


Old Guard Elementary

by Resting_witch_face



Category: The Old Guard (Movie 2020)
Genre: Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Kid Fic, M/M, also like slight Dom/Sub undertones that were originally unintentional and are now very intentional, but also like there are some minor (and in a few instances major) rewrites, but they skip the friend part, cause Joe and Nicky as Parents is adorable, more like Enemies to one night stand that catches a case of the feelings to lovers, repost of a work I orphaned cause I’m dumb
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-05
Updated: 2021-02-08
Packaged: 2021-03-08 22:01:10
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 31,774
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27403924
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Resting_witch_face/pseuds/Resting_witch_face
Summary: Was it extreme that Nicky had decided the newcomer at the Old Guard Elementary PTA meetings was now his mortal enemy because he insulted Nicky’s Baklava.....probably.Was the man the most stunning thing he had ever seen and would he toss that grudge aside in a heartbeat if it meant they would hop into bed together....of course.Was he going to cave and be nice to the other man just because his daughter was now best friends with the gorgeous stranger’s niece...abso-fucking-lutely not.** repost - chapters have been shuffled and some edits have been made. Past readers, if you don’t want to re-read I would start at chapter 8
Relationships: Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani/Nicky | Nicolò di Genova
Comments: 103
Kudos: 141





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Sooooooo After a brief, and very stupid hiatus, i’m backkkkkk!!!
> 
> For anyone who was wondering, I made the very, very stupid decision to orphan all of my works and delete my AO3 account back in about the middle of October. It was a moment of weakness when I was just staring out at how fucked up the world was and thought that distancing myself from writing and Fandom might help a little. I think it stemmed from some idea that if I maybe took the time I was spending writing and invested it in something “useful” I would be better off. 
> 
> Needless to say, distancing myself from something I love was not smart and I never should have done it. 
> 
> So I am back and really, really want to finish this fic because I am loving it and also all of you have always left me such sweet comments (to all of you lovelies who saw the original version of this fic I orphaned and commented hoping I was ok....just like you all are so sweet and I am sending all the metaphorical hugs and kisses your way). I’ll likely return to Affection, Bound, and The Moon When I am Lost in Darkness too, but I want to finish off this work first before I do. 
> 
> Now, on to business. There are some minor rewrites here and there and I smushed a few chapters together. Things start getting shuffled around in some of the later chapters cause I didn’t exactly love my characterization of Nicky there.

“Nadia it will be ok I promise,” Joe soothed the little girl holding his hand as they walked through the front door of the elementary school. “Talia is in your new class so you won’t be alone and I’ll be just a phone call away.”

That seemed to perk the little girl up as she started bouncing up and down, tugging on Joe’s arm, looking up at him with wide, dark eyes. “Talia is fun, she showed me how to do a somersault.” Her smile got wider as she stared up at Joe. “Can you stay all day too, she can teach you how to do one too.”

“I have to go to work today habibti, but we were all so proud of both of you when you showed us,” Joe responded, stopping for just a moment when they were right outside the door to the classroom. He crouched down so he and Nadia were eye to eye, adjusting one of her pigtails so the thick curls weren’t quite so wild. “I want you to have so much fun today and make lots of friends ok habibti, can you do that for me?”

“I promise,” she offered solemnly.

Joe was just standing up as the door to the classroom opened and a young black woman, maybe a few years younger than Joe, her hair in long braids, was standing in the doorway with a wide friendly smile on her face. “Well hello there, you must be Mr. Al-Kaysani and Nadia,” she said, greeting both of them but her focus primarily on Nadia. “I’m your teacher Miss Freeman, but you can call me Nile. Welcome to the first day of Kindergarten at Old Guard Elementary!”

Nadia’s only response was to hide behind Joe’s legs, peering out suspiciously.

“You can call me Joe, and sorry, she’s usually not this shy but she’s really nervous for her first day after how things went after the last school,” Joe offered up.

Nile just waved him off and this time she was the one crouching down to be eye level with Nadia. “You’re here pretty early today but you’re not the first one here. Jean-Pierre is in the classroom coloring and Sofia is reading. Would you like me to introduce you to them? They’re both super nice and would love to have a new friend. What do you say, coloring or reading?”

Nadia eyed Nile for a moment before looking up at Joe for direction. “Both sound like lots of fun habibti,” he offered along with what he hoped was an encouraging smile.

That was all Nadia needed. “Reading,” she answered, taking Nile’s hand and letting herself be led into the classroom over to where a young girl with brownish-blonde hair was sitting on a beanbag chair with a children’s book open in front of her. 

Joe watched as Nile introduced them, saw the bright smile the girl gave Nadia as she scooted over in the chair making room, holding out the book so they could read together and Joe suddenly felt a wave of relief wash over him. Nadia was going to be ok, they could do this even after three years on their own and the disaster that had been Merrick Elementary. She was a bright, happy child and would have no problem making friends.

Nile made her way back over to Joe once the girls were settled. “Sofia is a really sweet girl so I’m sure they’ll be fast friends.”

“I hope so,” Joe waffled a bit internally on how much he should share with Nile about their last experience with an elementary school before deciding that it was in Nadia’s best interest of her teacher knew something. “We didn’t have the best experience at her last school even though she was only there for a few months. The kids there were cruel to her and the parents took pretty huge exception with the fact that I’m gay. We were right on the border between school districts so I was able to transfer her out from Merrick Elementary to Old Guard pretty easily but I still worry about her a lot.” He wasn’t completely sure sharing his sexuality with Nile wouldn’t put them in the same spot they’d been at Merrick Elementary, but better to get it out right away. Plus something about Nile made it seem like he didn’t have to be worried.

“That’s bullshit,” she kept her voice low so the kids couldn’t hear her curse. “You’re daughter shouldn’t have had that experience and I’m so sorry.”

“Niece actually,” Joe corrected with a sad smile. “Her mom, my sister, and dad died in a car accident three years ago.”

“I’m so sorry,” and Nile did sound genuinely sorry. It was nice to hear someone say that and feel like they actually meant it rather than them just saying it because it was what polite society dictated.

Joe had adored his older sister Rina. She had been the one who had convinced him to move to New York for college and pursue art rather than staying back in Tunisia and just taking a job at their dad’s trading company once he was done with school. He loved his parents but that life hadn’t been for him.

When Rina and her husband Andrew had died Nadia had just turned two and Joe had been twenty-nine. His parents had offered to take Nadia on, hadn’t wanted to saddle Joe with a child when he was just getting the gallery up and running, but he knew moving Nadia across the ocean wouldn’t have been the right move, plus his dad’s health wasn’t great and he didn’t want to add another burden on his mother. Andrew’s mom lived just outside the city, had moved there from Washington DC after her husband had died to be closer to Rina, Andrew and Nadia and while she was great and provided Joe with so much support, she was a sixty-five year old retiree and giving her a two year old to take care of wouldn’t have been fair to either her or Nadia.

So Joe had stepped up, bought a bigger condo using up almost his entire retirement fund and took on as much freelance graphic design work as he could manage to bring in a little extra cash to support them while he was still waiting for the gallery to turn profitable. He’d learned how to do hair, how to figure out what size and type of clothing little kids needed, researched pre-K vs home schooling, and basically got a crash course in being a parent. It had been so many long sleepless nights and the hardest thing he had ever done, but he wouldn’t have traded these last three years with Nadia for anything. He loved her more than life and would give her the world if he could.

“It’s ok, it’s been a while. I feel bad that Nadia won’t get to remember much of her parents so I’m trying to do what I can to make sure she has as happy of a childhood as possible.” He owed it to his big sister and Nadia deserved it. 

Joe was happy to see that Nadia and Sofia seemed to be clicking right away, she was already laughing with Sofia, talking with the other girl like they had been friends for years instead of minutes.

“I’ll let you get out of here, I’m sure you have to get to work but first....” Nile walked over to the small desk tucked into the corner of the front of the room and grabbed a colorful flyer off of it before coming back over to Joe and handing it to him. “If you’re interested the PTA really needs some help this year in terms of membership. Jean-Pierre’s dad,” she paused pointing to the little brown haired boy that was coloring at a desk, “Booker is pretty involved, has been since his oldest started at Old Guard Elementary four years ago. Andy is the PTA president. She’s terrifying, but gets a lot done.”

“Oh, I know Andy and Quynh, they actually recommended the school when we were looking at transferring. Their daughter and Nadia are good friends.” 

And suddenly, as though summoned a dark haired blur came barreling into the classroom screeching Nadia’s name at the top of her lungs.

“Talia!” Nadia screamed in return jumping from her seat and pulling the girl into a hug. 

“I feel like is should apologize in advance for how much trouble they will probably both get into.”

“Nonsense, my child is perfectly well behaved,” a new voice said from behind them.  
Joe immediately turned too look at the immaculately dressed Vietnamese woman behind him, brow arched as he addressed her. 

“Yes, she’s certainly not the devil child that almost set my condo on fire last week when her and Nadia decided to try and cook their dolls in their Easy Bake Oven.”

“She would never,” the smirk on her lips completely undermined her words. “It’s good to see you here Joe,” she added, pulling him into a hug.

“You too Quynh, I don’t see you enough now that you’re a partner at the firm,” Joe returned her hug. “You should stop by the gallery, we’re having another showing on Friday.”

“Anything interesting?”

“A few,” he responded as they pulled away. “I included one of my own pieces this time since you and Andy bugged me so much about it. I still think it is a little gauche to include any of my own work in the gallery I run when I’m trying to help some of the local artists start to get their work out there.”

“Not when you’re work is so amazing, you don’t show it off enough.” It was then that Quynh spotted the flyer in Joe’s hand. “Oh! PTA! Joe you have to go to some of the meetings, Andy will love it.”

“The next ones tomorrow,” Nile added helpfully. “It’s at 5 so I know that might be a little tight with some people’s jobs but I usually watch all the kids while the parents meet so no need to worry about a baby sitter.”

“The gallery has weird hours so wouldn’t be an issue for me but I’m just not sure I’m the type of person you want for PTA.” Was he a great parent who took care of every single one of Nadia’s needs? Absolutely. Was he super successful in his career and damn proud of it? For sure! Was he also a walking gay disaster who could go from spouting poetry to being the equivalent of the “fight me” meme in .2 seconds when someone pissed him off? One hundred percent. 

“Nonsense, you’d be perfect, and you absolutely must meet Nicky.” Joe didn’t like the strange glint he saw in Quynh’s eyes, that look usually meant she was plotting something.

“Nicky?”

“Sofia’s dad,” Nile answered. “He’s really nice, owns a bakery over in Queens and usually brings pastries to the meeting. He has to drop Sofia off pretty early most days before the morning rush starts and they get mobbed so if you ever need to drop Nadia off early she won’t be alone.”

Well that was good to know. He wasn’t kidding when he said the gallery had odd hours and while Nadia loved it there, he always felt terrible dragging her to work when she was barely even awake. It would be nice to be able to bring her to school and know she had someone to play with even if she was early. “I’ll come to a meeting but no promises, ok?”

The smile he got from both women as they nodded should have been his first warning that something strange was going on.

—

Normally Nicky adored Tuesday’s. Tuesday’s were quiet at the bakery, less of a rush during the 7-9 morning hours so Nicky could spend more time figuring out the recipe he wanted to try for the PTA meeting that night, to see if he might finally be able to stump Andy. Tuesday’s were also Italian night with Sofia when, after they got home from the PTA meeting, he pulled out his mom’s old recipe book and made them something delicious for dinner that always reminded him of home.

Nicky treasured those moments he had with his daughter, had devoted every precious second he had to her ever since her mother, his ex, had flaked two months after she was born and moved out to California. She hadn’t even attempted to contact Sofia since then and if Nicky was honest with himself it was probably for the best at this point that she didn’t.

But that wasn’t the point, the point was that Tuesday’s were a tradition, they had a certain rhythm to them that Nicky loved.

Or at least he loved them when there wasn’t a group of pharma bros who had decided to set up shop in the small seating area in the bakery.

From what he could tell from overhearing them there was some conference up in Manhattan and they had decided they wanted to “slum it” in Queens while they worked on a few presentations for the conference.

In Nicky’s eyes they were nothing more than loud and obnoxious peacocks that had spread themselves, their laptops, tablets and other technological detritus out across what was the prime table that was usually used by a few of Nicky’s favorite regulars. They spent the whole morning talking about margins and drug costs and all Nicky had wanted to do was pour a pot of very hot coffee over their heads and scream at them that people were literally dying because of their greed.

Unfortunately they had tipped well each time they bought a fresh coffee and Nicky wouldn’t begrudge his barista, Marina, whatever money she would get out of them by batting her eyes and flirting, even if every time they walked away she made a disgusted face and laughed with Nicky about how funny her girlfriend would find this when she’d ducked back into the kitchen while he was working on the Baklava for tonight’s meeting. 

Marina was in her third year at NYU and was paying her own way after her parents had kicked her out when she came out to them so Nicky knew every little bit of extra cash she could make helped.

The day had only gotten worse from there, even after the pharma bros finally vacated the shop. One of the ovens finally kicked the bucket in the middle of his third batch of muffins and Nicky simply did not have time to get that replaced right now, he had forgotten to schedule someone to cover the shift after Marina’s and had to man the front for the last three hours they were open for the day, which he wouldn’t have minded if he also wasn’t trying to finish a massive order of specialty frosted cookies for a 60th anniversary party that the courier was coming to pick up for delivery right when the shop was closing.  
Somehow he’d managed to finish the cookies and deal with the few customers that came in during the afternoon, but then he had missed his train and now he was going to be late. He was never late.

To make matters worse, it had started to rain so Nicky was juggling his bag, an umbrella, a rain coat, and the box that was carrying the Baklava in when he walked into the classroom they were meeting in.

Which means he almost dropped all of these things when he caught sight of the single most gorgeous man he had ever seen.

He was roughly the same height is Nicky, maybe an inch or two taller, with lush dark curls Nicky wanted to sink his hands into. He had these big dark eyes that practically sparkled like he was out of a goddamn fairytale as he laughed at something Booker had said.

God Nicky wanted to climb this man like a tree. Which was an odd feeling, it had been a while since this sort of instant attraction had hit him. He’d forgotten what it was like. 

“Nicky!” Andy came over as soon as she spotted him, helping him put all the things he had been carrying aside before pulling him into a hug. “What did you bring me today?”

Nicky pulled the box of Baklava over and handed it to Andy. “I don’t think you’re going to be able to get it this time.”

“Want to bet,” Booker called over from where he was still standing next to the gorgeous newcomer.

“500 Booker.”

“You’re going to lose,” Andy commented as she opened the box, smile getting wider when she saw that it was Baklava.

“We shall see,” Nicky smiled in return.

Andy didn’t bother responding, instead she just took a bite of the Baklava, letting out a low groan at how good it tasted.

“Hazelnut, not walnut,” damn, Nicky thought that one might stump her, still, not the hardest ingredient.

“Regional recipe most likely, Black Sea.” 

Booker’s smile was steadily getting wider, still, Nicky had hope.

“Rose water.” Well that wasn’t good.

“Pomegranate.” Ok but surely she wouldn’t get the exact location for the recipe.

“Eastern Turkey.” Booker let out a loud shout of success.

Nicky however only had eyes for the stunning mystery man who had his nose scrunched up in disgust. “Hazelnut in Baklava. Walnut or pistachio would have been better.”

Well that settles it, this beautiful stranger was now his mortal enemy.


	2. Chapter 2

Given that Andy was the PTA President and what little she had told him about Booker when they had talked about Old Guard Elementary back when he was deciding if it would be the right place for Nadia to transfer, Joe had known going into that first meeting was going to be a lot to take in. What he had not been prepared for was the handsome piece of man that walked through the classroom door and who was currently looking unfairly attractive while dripping rainwater all over the cracked linoleum.

He legitimately looked like something that had walked out of one of Joe’s more graphic wet dreams. Brown hair pushed back from his forehead, just long enough to curl behind his ear in a way that was more than a little adorable. Trim, with broad shoulders that tapered down to a slim waist and legs for days. His nose was a bit on the large side but it also sort of worked with his face and for some reason Joe thought it was kind of charming. 

His eyes though. Fuck, his eyes were stunning. They were that odd green-blue color that you could never quite put your finger on and absolutely soul piercing.

Joe wanted this man to bend him over the nearest horizontal surface and make him forget his own name. Also the guy gave off some pretty solid Big Dick energy and Joe really wanted to see how accurate that assessment of him was as soon as possible. 

So of course the first thing he did was open his mouth and stick his foot in it because he wouldn’t be him if he hadn’t.

Although in his defense, he did hate hazelnuts and walnuts in Baklava were just a better option all around.

The glare the stunning Italian, at least Joe assumed he was Italian based on the accent when he spoke to Booker and Andy, leveled him was positively frigid.

And, because he is who he is and also because he apparently never wants to get laid by the glorious man in front of him, he doubles down. “Also Pomegranate probably makes it a bit too sweet. Baklava is best when you keep it simple and let the honey really shine.”

The glare just grew steadily icier with every word. “And who, exactly, are you?” His words were clipped.

“Ah, sorry,” Joe scratched at the back of his neck awkwardly. “I’m new, my niece Nadia started in Nile’s class yesterday. I’m Joe.” He took a few steps closer and held out a hand for the other man to shake. He should at least try to salvage this a little and see if he could possibly undo whatever offense he had just managed to cause. 

He just looked down at Joe’s hand, making no move to take the peace offering. “Lovely,” well based on his tone he wasn’t going to be defrosting anytime soon. Fine, if he wanted to be a dick then Joe would stop trying to be nice.

“And you are.....” Joe pulled his hand back, shifting his stance and drawing himself up to his full height, like that extra inch he had in this guy would lend him some superiority in whatever argument they were going to have about baklava of all things.

“Be nice Nicky,” Andy admonished gently, poking Nicky in the side. “Joe’s a friend and we want both him and Nadia to feel welcome.”

“Maybe he should have thought of that before insulting my baklava.”

“For the record, I was insulting your choice of ingredients, not the baklava itself.”

“Children,” Booker interrupted, hands on Joe’s shoulders, pulling him back away from Nicky and towards one of the desks, shoving him down in a seat and fighting back a laugh at the sight of full grown Joe stuffed into a kids desk. “Can we please get started with the meeting?”

Joe’s only response was to grumble a bit and get out of the chair to sit in the desk itself.  
Well, PTA was off to an auspicious start.

—

Following the rather disastrous start to the meeting, the rest of the hour moved fairly quick and while Nicky was loath to admit it, Joe had some good ideas.

If Nicky had to guess he say he was some sort of creative type. He was well dressed in an artsy way and most of the suggestions he put on the table for fundraisers or events they were considering had an artistic bent to them.

None of that meant that Nicky forgave him for being an ass about the baklava and so just out of spite Nicky countered each of Joe’s ideas with one of his own, usually something that involved cooking or baking as those were in his wheelhouse.

Eventually Andy must have gotten sick of the entire thing because she ended the meeting fifteen minutes early, ducking out immediately to let Nile know they were done.

As soon as Andy was out the door Booker grabbed Joe by the arm and was pulling him over towards where Nicky was.

“You two need to learn to play nice, and that’s saying a lot coming from me considering I once punched the principal at Merrick Elementary,” ah yes, Nicky remembered that, it had been two months ago, right at the start of the school year and Booker would have probably been slapped with an assault charge if Quynh hadn’t stepped in and threatened to sue the school district for negligence over the way they had handled the cross district field day. “So, Nicky and I grab drinks and food on Saturday nights with a few of the other dad’s. You should join us.”

Nicky wasn’t thrilled about the idea of Joe invading the standing dinner he had with Booker, Copley, and two of the other parents from the school, but he also couldn’t say anything without being rude now that Booker had extended the invitation so he stayed quiet and hoped that Joe got the hint from the way he didn’t exactly echo Booker in telling Joe he should join in.

And lo and behold Joe wasn’t a complete idiot. 

“I’d love to but my schedule get’s so weird, plus I would have to find someone to watch Nadia and that’s always tricky.”

“Sofia spends the night at Andy and Quynh’s for a sleepover with Talia, I’m sure they wouldn’t mind watching Nadia too,” Nicky really wished Booker would let this one go.

“I don’t know, work hours can get weird, maybe...”

Whatever else Joe might have said was interrupted by a batch of children running into the classroom, all giggly and happy, running to their respective parents and chattering about their day.

Booker, thankfully, was immediately distracted by Jean-Pierre and his two other boys, swinging his youngest up into his arms and giving him his full attention, no longer even paying the slightest bit of mind to what they had been doing before the kids showed up.  
Sofia was quick to make it to Nicky’s side as well, pulling a little girl behind her with dark curly hair. “Papa, papa, this is Nadia, my new best friend.” Oh so this was Joe’s niece, god she was adorable. Big dark eyes just like her uncle and a cute little gap toothed smile.

“It’s very nice to meet you Nadia,” Nicky leaned over, hands in his knees as he spoke to them both. “I hope Sofia has been welcoming since you’re new.”

“She’s the best!” Nicky’s heart melted just a little bit at they way Nadia immediately hugged Sofia, her smile growing even wider.

“Well now what’s this I thought I was the best habibti, am I so easily replaced?” Joe made a big show of faking being offended in a way that had Nadia and Sofia both dissolving into laughter.

“You’re the best boy, Sofia is the best girl silly,” Nadia corrected, letting go of Sofia to grab onto Joe’s leg. “I can like both of you.”

“You sure can habibti, with a big heart like yours you can love so many people,” Nicky felt his animosity towards to other man melt a little when he watched him crouch down and scoop Nadia up into his arms, squishing their cheeks together. “How about we say goodbye to Sofia now and get home and get some dinner, hmmm?”

“Nooooo, I don’t wanna say bye.”

“I don’t either,” Sofia echoed, pulling on Nicky’s trousers to get his attention. “Can Nadia come home with us tonight?”

“Not tonight darling but maybe another time ok,” Nicky offered up.

“When?” He should have known better, his daughter wasn’t likely to be deterred from anything.

He looked at Joe, hoping he might be able to offer up a solution.

“How about Saturday, if it’s ok with Andy and Quynh you can all have a sleepover at their place with Talia, does that sound good?” Well, I guess that was one way of killing two birds with one stone.

“Does that mean you’re coming out with us?” Booker cut in after overhearing them.

“No promises,” Joe cut Booker off before he could start talking more about Saturday plans, “I don’t know yet what’s going to happen with the gallery or if I’ll have to work, but at the very least so long as Andy and Quynh are fine with it the girls can have a sleepover.”

Nicky really hoped Joe didn’t join them, if he had too much exposure to him being adorable around his niece and kind to Booker it was going to be harder to continue to hold a grudge for the way he’d gotten snippy about the baklava earlier.

—

The rest of the week was a bit of a blur and if he was honest Joe sort of forgot about the hot Italian who hated his guts.

Sure, he thought of him whenever Nadia brought up Sofia, and there may have been a somewhat embarrassing dream about Nicky that had Joe waking up with sticky sheets like he was a goddamn teenager again, but other than that he had hardly even thought about Nicky.

He’d also found a perfect excuse for not being able to make it Saturday night thanks to Quynh. She had set him up on a date with one of the junior partners at the firm she worked at. She hadn’t told him much about the guy, Keane, instead just telling Joe she gave his number to one of the attractive guys from work because he really needed to “get laid.”

He wasn’t expecting much to come of the date. He’d been on a bit of a dry spell even before Nadia came into the picture and to be completely frank he didn’t particularly have time or interest in a relationship at the moment, but it would be nice to go out, meet someone new, maybe see where things went from there.

He dropped Nadia off at Andy and Quynh’s at 6. Sofia wasn’t there yet and he got out quickly enough that he managed to avoid running into Nicky which was great and by 6:30 he was at the bar his date had suggested they meet at based on Quynh’s recommendation.

It was nothing fancy, just your standard bar that, according to Andy, had good drinks and halfway decent food. Joe had dressed to fit the location, not overly formal but still nice in a pair of slim fit dark jeans, leather jacket thrown over his gray Henley against the chilly November air.

When he arrived there was that sort of awkward moment where he wasn’t sure if he should wait outside or grab a seat at the bar, but luckily for him his date showed up at the exact same time he did.

His date was tall and good looking but in a severe and very serious way that wasn’t really Joe’s type.

“Joe?” the other man asked, holding the door open for both of them.

“Keane, from Quynh’s work?” The man just nodded and the both made their way over to the bar.

They settled into an awkward silence for a few moments which was thankfully broken by the bartender coming over to take their order. Keane ordered a whisky and coke and Joe just went with a water.

“I don’t drink,” Joe offered when Keane gave him a strange look.

“Weird, but whatever,” Keane commented. Oh, so it was going to be one of those sorts of dates, great. Joe now had to wonder a little how Quynh thought setting Joe up with Keane was a good idea.

Still he would give the man the benefit of the doubt and see where things went. Maybe he was just awkward and didn’t really know what to say.

The conversation was stilted after that, Keane mostly giving short answers and not really asking Joe anything about himself. Joe was getting ready to call it a night because clearly the other man wasn’t interested in being here any more than Joe was at this point when Keane finally spoke up and revealed his true goal for the night.

“Look, I’m going to be honest I didn’t exactly come into this date looking for a relationship. Quynh showed me a picture of you, I thought you were hot, so why don’t we bypass all the small talk and get to the real point of this which is to get you into my bed,” well, that was both astoundingly forward and very to the point.

It was also more than a little insulting that Keane thought Joe might be that easy. Did he enjoy sex? Of course. Was he going to jump into bed with anyone who offered? Not even when he had been an idiot twenty-something still figuring out what it meant to be a gay kid in New York City.

“Yeah, I’m not really interested,” Joe responded as he started to stand up from his chair, intending to grab his wallet and put down some cash to cover the food they ordered, which had yet to even arrive so doing that was far more than Keane deserved from him but he wasn’t going to penalize the bartender because his date was a dick. “Look, I don’t know if maybe I gave off the wrong impression, but I’m just going to get out of here....”

Keane’s hand came down in Joe’s wrist, pinning it down against the bar top in a way that was just on the wrong side of painful.  
Joe opened his mouth, ready to completely eviscerate him for thinking it was ok to try and manhandle Joe into submission when he clearly was not interested but someone else stepped in to do it for him.

“I’d recommend you leave,” Joe couldn’t hide his surprise when Nicky appeared on his other side glaring at Keane, his voice colder than Joe had every heard before which was impressive considering how Nicky had spoken to him during their only previous interaction. He also looked absolutely delicious in that navy jacket. Fuck, why was Joe’s brain like this, maybe he did need to get laid.

Keane didn’t let go of Joe’s wrist, instead he stood up, putting pressure on Joe’s arm in a way that had him hissing, and stared down his nose at Nicky. “I don’t see how this is any of your business.”

Nicky wasn’t phased in the slightest, standing his ground. “It is my business because, while this man may have infuriatingly poor taste in baked goods and apparently also awful taste in men, his niece and my daughter happen to be best friends. It’s also my business because I was enjoying a fairly calm night out with my friends,” Nicky paused to motion towards a table in the back where Booker and three other men were seated watching what was going on by the bar. Booker was already half out of his seat to come help if needed. “We would rather not get into a fight that might end with you in the hospital and us being banned from this bar in the future. It happens to be Copley’s favorite and he would be so disappointed if we couldn’t come back.”

Keane’s eyes shifted between Joe, Nicky, and the others rapidly, obviously running through his odds before releasing Joe’s wrist. “Fine, the sluts not fucking worth it,” he spat in Joe’s direction before stalking out of the bar without a glance backwards.

“Rude,” Joe mumbled, shaking out his wrist while Nicky glared at Keane’s retreating form, looking as though he was considering the merits of homicide. “Guess that means I’m paying for drinks.” Joe flagged down the bartender, quickly passing over some cash and telling him to keep the change. It would be a hefty tip, but he’d had to put up with watching Keane and Joe’s disaster of a date so he’d earned it.

By the time that was done Nicky was finished plotting the best way to kill Keane and dispose of the body and was facing Joe again. He opened his mouth to say something but Joe quickly cut him off. “I could have taken care of that myself you know, I didn’t need your help.”  
“Yes, because it looked as though you had that situation completely under control,” Joe ignored the way the carefully controlled rage in Nicky’s voice made him feel. Keane was apparently an ass and anyone would hate him. Nicky wasn’t being protective of Joe specifically, he was just reacting to the type of personality Keane was.

And also how insanely hot Nicky was to Joe right now was not the point. The point was that Nicky seemed to think Joe was some sort of damsel in distress type that needed rescuing when he most certainly was not.

“I’m completely capable of dealing with one pushy asshole....” he’d have said more but Booker came over cutting in immediately in hopes of resolving some of the tension.

“Joe, fancy seeing you here, who would have expected that.”

“Quynh told you I would be here.”

“Andy, actually.”

“You didn’t tell me that,” Nicky looked supremely offended that Booker had withheld that information from him.

“Didn’t I, I could have sworn I’d mentioned it,” Booker was failing miserably at looking innocent. “But now that you’re here and Nicky has managed to run off your date why don’t you let us make it up to you and buy you dinner?”

“I don’t know, I’m probably better just going home....”

“It would be great for you to meet some other parents from the school.”

He had Joe there. “Fine, I guess I’ll stay.”  
Seeing Nicky’s outraged face that looked something like a cat you had just taunted with a laser pointer was going to be completely worth spending a night snarking back and forth at each other passive aggressively.


	3. Chapter 3

Nicky learned a thing or two about Joe over the night that had Nicky not already decided he despised him he probably would have found endearing.

Joe had moved to New York for College, born in Tunisia and lived in no less than twelve different countries over the course of his life due to the nature of his families work. He ran an art gallery in Harlem, did some freelance work on the side while also working on his own art. Apparently he had a few pieces that were moderately well known that were hanging in some French museum under a pseudonym. 

They must have been good because when he’d said the pseudonym aloud Booker had spit his beer halfway across the table and immediately demanded more details. 

Nicky also learned that Joe was apparently very, very gay. 

Not that it mattered to Nicky one bit considering they hated each other. Nope, no matter how good Joe looked in that jacket it did not matter to Nicky in the slightest.

Over the course of the night they ended up at another bar that was just a little too loud and possibly a little to young for them. It was just him, Booker and Joe by then, the others splitting off to go home. 

Nicky’s not really certain how they ended up here if he was being honest. He and Booker hated these sort of bars, but he suspects it was Joe’s fault somehow.

Joe, who was currently getting drinks for them even though he didn’t drink. Joe, who for the last hour had been making sure that Booker’s whiskey and coke had barely any alcohol in it in hopes that Booker might sober up a bit before they sent him home to his wife. Joe, who was being so goddamn sweet and attentive to all of them and making it very, very hard to continue hating him. It was beginning to create a moral quandary for Nicky that he didn’t really enjoy examining further. Should he continue to hate Joe because of an off hand comment and his own snap judgement, or did he give in to all the ways Joe seemed to be checking each and everyone of Nicky’s boxes. Well, almost all of them, he couldn’t exactly weigh in too much on their compatibility in the bedroom but he had his suspicions given the way Joe’s eyes had gone dark when Nicky had dispatched his date earlier. 

“You keep staring at him like that and people might start to talk,” Booker’s comment drew Nicky’s gaze away from where it had been locked in Joe who was now flirting outrageously with the bartender. “I’d say just fuck him and get it out of both of your systems, but at this point I think you might actually be half in love with him and it wouldn’t just end there.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Bullshit, you want him and just aren’t willing to admit it because the two of you got off to a rocky start over baklava for some unknown reason.”

“He hasn’t exactly been friendly since then.” All that got was a raised brow from Booker. “Ok, I could try to be nicer but he also has to meet me half way on this. Since he started it”

Booker just glanced over to the bar where Joe had now been waylaid in his return to them by some kid who couldn’t have been much older then 21, leaning it his space and taking every excuse he could to touch Joe’s arms. It was pretty obvious how uncomfortable Joe was by the way he was leaning away from the boy’s advances, but he was also far too polite to just tell the kid to fuck off and that he wasn’t interested. “Look, I’m going to get out of here and head home, tell Joe I said thanks for basically forcing me to sober up by giving me the weakest drinks possible, the wife will probably appreciate it, and if you really want to do me a favor both of you can pull your heads out of your asses and get along at the very least.” Booker grabbed his coat from where it was slung over his chair and stood up. “I’m going to grab a cab, you might want to go save Joe from whatever.....” he gestured vaguely in the direction of Joe and the kid still trying to get into his pants. “...that is,” before heading out.

Well, maybe Nicky could rescue Joe again, might be worth seeing the sort of confused, cute, little indignant look he had gotten on his face last time Nicky had saved him from someone’s unwanted advances.

—

Joe was actually starting to enjoy himself, even with Nicky around. He and Booker had a surprisingly large number of common interests and Copley was a history professor at NYU who’s work focused primarily on the Crusades so he had been an absolute delight to talk to.

Joe would even be willing to admit that Nicky had been pleasant enough to talk with when they’re weren’t glaring at each other.  
Nicky had been born in Italy and came over to the United States for school. He hadn’t intended to stay, but he’d fallen in love with a girl and had decided to make New York their home. He eventually applied for citizenship, opened up the bakery and made a life for himself here. His girlfriend had gotten pregnant about six years back just as the bakery was really starting to take off and then bailed on them right after Sofia was born.

Nicky was also, apparently bisexual, which shouldn’t have mattered to Joe one bit but for some reason it did. It made Nicky more accessible which was not something Joe needed right now. It was better to think of him as the handsome straight prick. Him being a handsome prick that Joe could potentially sleep with led to all sorts of absurd fantasies about the incredibly hot hate sex they could have. And, the substantially more dangerous thought path that seemed to rear its head whenever that sort of soft sweet side of Nicky showed up, Joe’s thoughts turned towards what a relationship between them could look like. Curled up on the couch together, talking about art or food, laughing over Bookers antics or Quynh’s terrible attempts at matchmaking she’d made over the last several years for both of them. 

It was easy to see and that was more than a little frightening given that Joe was fairly sure Nicky hated him. 

Which led him to his current predicament, how to very politely tell the twenty something who was very determined to drunkenly feel up his arms that he was only interested in getting railed by the hot Italian sitting across the bar from them and hooking up with someone who could barely even legally drink just wasn’t up his alley.

Luckily, or rather unluckily maybe, said hot Italian decided to play at being his knight in shining armor...again.

“Scusi,” Nicky interrupted, arm slipping around Joe’s waist, tugging sharply enough that it put a little more space between Joe and his unwanted admirer but not so hard that it would spill the drinks Joe had been bringing back for Nicky and Booker, who had apparently abandoned them if the now empty table was anything to go by. “New friend?” Nicky asked, pulling Joe’s attention away from the missing Frenchman and back towards Nicky.

“Not really,” Joe found himself saying back, feeling a little tongue tied by the warm line of heat where he and Nicky’s sides were pressed together.

The kid to his credit got the message and just slunk away from them with an exaggerated pout.

The moment he was out of earshot Joe hissed out “I don’t need you to save me every time.”  
Nicky just raised an eyebrow, his arm still around Joe’s waist and Joe was suddenly very painfully aware of how close they were. “I thought it would be rude to just leave and not tell you that Booker and I were going and this felt like the most expeditious way to get your attention, unless of course you were actually interested in sleeping with someone who may or may not even be legal? Also you’re welcome.”

A warm heat settled low in Joe’s belly. He was just angry, or at least that’s what he told himself since admitting that Nicky swooping in and sending off an unwanted admirer did all sorts of things to Joe would be admitting defeat in some way. Nope, it was definitely anger and not attraction. 

“I didn’t ask for your help,” he snarled, setting the drinks he had in his hands on the bar and stalking out and into the cold evening air. 

He was given just a moment or two to himself before Nicky was following him out, grabbing Joe by the arm and tugging him towards the alley next to the bar and shoving Joe back against the bricks. 

“What the fuck is your problem!”

—

Nicky didn’t bother responding to Joe’s shout, he didn’t even really have an answer that he could give that would make sense anyway. Explaining to Joe he was attracted to him, that he wanted to fuck him senseless and see if that might finally shut him up almost as much as he wanted to find out what Joe’s hair would look like in the morning would probably just scare the other man off. 

No, better to just chase after the physical half of this attraction and use that weird way passion and hate started to blur together to explain everything. 

So instead of actually talking like rational adults he just pressed Joe back against the wall, one hand twisting in Joe’s curls and the other on one hip, pinning Joe down, and did the thing that he hadn’t realized he’d even wanted to do since the moment he met Joe. 

He kissed him.

Although kiss might have been to gentle a word for it. No, Nicky instead focused on completely devouring Joe, pushing all of his annoyance and frustration into that kiss in an effort to express how utterly infuriating Joe was and how desperately hot that was to Nicky. 

Joe for his part didn’t just sit back and take it. 

Oh no, after the initial shock washed away Joe gave just as good as he got and by the time he pulled away Nicky was fairly sure his lip might be bleeding from where Joe had bitten him.  
He took just a second to admire the way Joe looked, lips kiss bruised and a faint blush visible despite his dark skin and the poor lighting, before diving back in, this time leaving a trail of biting kisses along Joe’s jawline and finding the spot on his throat that dragged a low, guttural moan from Joe as he pushed into Nicky, fighting against the grip he had on his hair and hip. God how could Joe go from being the bane of Nicky’s existence to this completely wanton, irresistible thing. It wasn’t fair.

“I’m not fucking in an alley like some teenager,”  
Nicky pulled away, getting a small amount of joy from the bruises that were starting to bloom on Joe’s neck. 

“I live three blocks away.”


	4. Chapter 4

Joe didn’t exactly pay a ton of attention to where they were going which possibly wasn’t the smartest thing he’d ever done.

I mean did he desperately want to get it on with possibly the hottest human being he had ever met? Very much so yes.

Was it also possible that Nicky was a serial killer trying to lure Joe into a trap? Probably not given the way Andy and Quynh trusted him and outside of their attempts at playing matchmaker for Joe they were generally good judges of character. But still he couldn’t be one hundred percent certain on that front so if he’d had any sense of self preservation he might have paid a little more attention to where they were going.

Not the point though, the point is that Joe really wasn’t certain how he had ended up standing outside of a bakery in a moderately well to do neighborhood in Queens because he was way too busy appreciating Nick’s ass in those jeans as he had pulled Joe along by the wrist to their final destination.

“Is there a reason you brought me to your bakery and not your home,” at least Joe assumed it was Nicky’s bakery, it would be really weird if it wasn’t.

“I live above it,” was the only response he got, Nicky continuing to manhandle him to their final destination, this time pulling him towards the side door of the building as he fished a set keys out of his pocket.

Next thing he knew he was being pushed up a narrow set of stairs and through another doorway into what appeared to be an entryway, Nicky’s hands on his hips guiding him up the stairs distracting him in a way that made him almost trip twice. 

He didn’t have long to admire the decor - although he did have long enough to note that it was very tasteful which was less surprising and more disappointing as he had really hoped that he might find out Nicky had terrible taste so that he had at least one thing to make him a little less attractive - before Nicky was on him again, crowding him back against the now closed front door, tugging his jacket off and throwing it somewhere behind him before kissing him senseless.

Joe was man enough to admit that despite, or perhaps even because of, the general animosity and tension that existed between the two of them he had had some pretty vivid day dreams about what kissing Nicky might be like.

In the end none of those fantasies even came close.

Nicky wasn’t just a good kisser, he was absolutely brilliant in a way that made Joe’s knees go weak. Had it not been for the door supporting him and the way Nicky’s hand was twisted in his hair, just the right side of painful that left Joe aching for more, he is fairly certain he would have slid down to the floor in a incoherent puddle when Nicky did that thing with his tongue.

And it wasn’t just how he kissed, literally everything Nicky was doing was steadily pushing Joe further over the edge. The way he tugged on Joe’s curls, the hand that was skating along the strip of skin just above the waistband, the thigh that had just wedged its way between......oh fuck yes that, that was very much something he was going to take full advantage of as he rolled his hips down against Nicky’s thigh. 

Joe didn’t really have much room left for coherent thought after that. 

“Fuck, so good,” he managed to get out between panted breaths when Nicky pulled away from their kiss, hand sliding upwards now beneath his shirt to tug at his nipple. “Shit don’t stop.”

Nicky other hand tugged hard on Joe’s hair, jerking his head sideways so he could speak directly into Joe’s ear. “I wonder, can you come from just this?”

“Uh huh,” Joe’s breath caught as he tried to recover some of his wits, to say something but all he could do was make these sort of soft little broken noises and moans. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d ever felt like this. Like he was about to come in his pants like some horny teenager. It wasn’t fair that Nicky could reduce him down to this, especially when he seemed so composed and disaffected by comparison.

“Maybe I should just let you. Spend the whole night seeing just how many orgasms I can wring out of you. You’d like that wouldn’t you?”  
Fuck, how could that voice be both the most infuriating and also sexiest thing Joe had ever heard. He didn’t respond to Nicky, just let out this sort of high pitched keening noise and continued to rock his hips down against Nicky’s thigh in an effort to chase his own release.

He could feel it coiling up low in his stomach when suddenly Nicky pulled his leg away, one hand slamming down on Joe’s hip and holding him against the door and the other gathering both of Joe’s wrists and pinning them above his head as Joe spit curses at him.

“Or maybe I’ll just drag this out all night until you’re begging for it.”

—

Fuck, the noises Joe made, the way he moved. God it was so fucking unfair.

Kissing Joe was a revelation, everything about it felt so perfect and when Joe caught Nicky’s lower lip between his teeth, Jesus Nicky almost came right then and there. Hell, even his hands on Nicky’s back, one beneath his shirt on his low back and the other on his shoulder, holding Nicky in close as he rode his thigh, had felt like brands against Nicky’s skin. 

Joe was stunning as he started to unravel and Nicky found himself just word vomiting everything he wanted to say to Joe right now. 

Joe was endlessly frustrating but he also pulled something out of Nicky that made him want to pin the other man down and make him see just how far he had to go before Joe was begging for his cock. 

And now, the way Joe looked pinned against the door. It took everything Nicky had to not just turn Joe around and fuck him right there.  
He hadn’t wanted someone this much in years and he was ridiculously annoyed that it had to be Joe that could spark this sort of passion. He couldn’t have chosen someone a little less annoyingly perfect who was able to push each and every one of Nicky’s buttons. 

“I’m not going to fucking beg for you,” Joe spat out, his dark eyes burning with something Nicky couldn’t exactly translate, maybe some strange combination of anger, desire and desperation. Whatever it was it was damn appealing.

“Hmmm, we’ll see,” Nicky just responded before letting Joe go and grabbing the front of his shirt to tug him towards the bedroom.

Joe followed behind as Nicky dragged him to the bedroom with minimal grumbling and mostly keeping his hands to himself until Nicky pushed him to sit down on the bed.

Once he was seated Joe’s hands immediately moved to grip Nicky’s hips, pulling him in close, tilting his head back so he could meet Nicky’s gaze. The look in his eyes had softened a bit and his words were gentle when he spoke this time. “I get that this is about us working off some of whatever is between us and I’ll be honest there are plenty of times where I’m not sure if I want to kiss you or punch you, but if we do this then we need to come to a truce afterwards. No more bitching at each other or nitpicking. We’ll try to get along or at the very least will stop acting like we hate each other.”

Nicky felt his own demeanor soften a bit at Joe’s words. Joe was right of course. The way they had behaved towards each other wasn’t sustainable, not when their girls were already so close, not with the way Nicky’s feelings towards Joe were already rapidly shifting and especially not after whatever happened tonight. Nicky brushed a hand through Joe’s hair, gently scratching at his scalp in a way that had Joe’s eyes fluttering closed as he leaned into the touch.

“After tonight we have a truce. No more bickering.”

“Good,” Joe murmured, not even bothering to open his eyes. “Even if you have terrible taste in baklava, actively hating you is a little exhausting, I’d much prefer to just think of you as sort of an annoyance that I fucked once.”

Nicky’s hand tightened in Joe’s hair and the other man let out a low hiss, eyes opening to glare up at Nicky. “I didn’t expect you to be such a brat in bed. You know I can change my mind and kick you out before doing anything.”

“But you won’t.”

No, he wouldn’t. Having Joe in his bed, no matter how ridiculous he could be and how he managed to push every single one of Nicky’s buttons, was an opportunity he wouldn’t pass up.

“No, I won’t.”

—

Nicky moved quicker than Joe had expected after that, tugging Joe’s shirt off before a firm hand on his chest was shoving him back to lay on the bed.

“Stay still.” Nicky demanded before setting to work on Joe’s shoes and pants. Joe didn’t obey of course, it wasn’t in his nature and he certainly wasn’t going to pass up a chance pike and prod at Nicky a bit. 

He rose up on his elbows to watch as Nicky worked on the zipper of his pants after he had discarded Joe’s shoes and socks behind him.

“You planning to get undressed anytime soon? The balance of power in terms of clothing is starting to feel a bit skewed,” Joe gave his hips a little wiggle for emphasis.

Nicky just glared up at him. “Do you ever stop talking? I feel like I might have to end up gagging you,” he commented just as he tugged Joe’s pants and boxer briefs off in one go.

“I mean you could try it has never really work....holy fuck,” Joe’s smart comment was cut off when Nicky swallowed his dick down in one go. “Fuck, fuck so good,” the warm, wet heat around him, the near perfect pressure was almost too much. He reached down for Nicky’s head with one hand. Not sure if he was going to pull him off or pull him in closer, but the moment he even touched Nicky’s hair his wrist was caught in a vise like grip and Nicky had pulled off his cock, climbing onto the bed so he could hover over Joe, pinning the hand down next to his head.

“I thought I told you to stay still,” Joe felt a shiver run up his spine when Nicky’s voice pitched low, more of a growl than actual spoken words.

“You going to make me?” He had been aiming for a tone of voice that was taunting and playful but it ended up coming out more breathless and desperate.

Nicky didn’t bother responding right away, just grabbed Joe’s other hand, which had been trying to sneak beneath the hem of Nicky’s shirt, and pinned it on the other side of Joe’s head. “I will tie you to the headboard if I have to, I swear to god. Now stay still or I stop.” He then slides down Joe’s body, only stopping briefly to nip at his throat and then again to catch a nipple between his teeth in a way that made Joe’s curse in several different languages. “Stay still,” Nicky reminded him once more before promptly swallowing Joe’s cock again.

Joe had to fight against the need to buck up into Nicky’s mouth. Twisted his hands in the sheets in an effort to keep them to himself. He desperately didn’t want Nicky to stop what he was doing and for once he was obedient.

But that doesn’t mean he was happy about it, or that he was going to shut up. After all Nicky had told him to stay still, not to stay quiet.

Most of what left his mouth was just a litany of pure filth punctuated by a few different curses whenever Nicky did something truly spectacular with his tongue. Honestly it didn’t actually matter to Joe much what he said, since he wasn’t even really coherent enough to string together much in terms of cognizant thought, and the intent was more to rile Nicky up a bit and see what he would do.

Which is why Joe just barely avoided laughing uncontrollably as Nicky glared up at him, the look, though decidedly cold and even a little deadly looking, was completely undermined by the way his lips were stretched around Joe’s cock.

He didn’t have long to be smug through as the pleasure and heat started to close in and all he could think about was how good Nicky’s mouth felt and how close his release was.

“Fuck, Nicky, so good,” his head fell back, eyes screwed shut. He could almost feel Nicky’s smile and was about to comment on it when he felt a dry finger brush against his hole. Not making any move to press in, just a promise of more to come later. Suddenly staying still wasn’t an option, wasn’t even a minute possibility as his back bowed away from the bed, hands coming down to twist in Nicky’s hair. “Shit, fuck, right there.” He was hovering right in the edge, just a second more and he would come.

Nicky was having none of it though, immediately knocking Joe’s hands away from his head and pulling back away from Joe, grip clamping around the base of Joe’s cock, halting his release in a way that had Joe thrashing against Nicky’s hold and howling out his displeasure.

He cursed at Nicky in Arabic for a moment or two, propped up on his elbows and chest heaving.

Nicky just raised a brow at his antics. “Are you done yet?”

—

Joe naked and in his bed was a glorious sight. Covered in a thin sheen of sweat and wild eyed as he fought against the hold Nicky had on his cock and the way he had pressed his other arm across Joe’s hips, holding him in place. He cursed him with enough vehemence that even though Nicky’s Arabic was rudimentary at best he was capable of recognizing the sentiment behind the vitriol being directed towards him.

“All you have to do is ask nicely you know,” Nicky commented, releasing Joe so he could sit up fully when it became clear he had calmed down a bit, stripping off his shirt and pants quickly before climbing into the bed to sit next to Joe.

“Fuck you,” he thinks Joe might have been going for defiant but his voice was so breathless the usual impact of it was lost. It was good to see some cracks forming in Joe’s resolve. Nicky had to wonder how long it would take break him down and have him begging to be fucked.

“Hmmmm, maybe some day,” Nicky hummed, hand going behind Joe’s neck to pull him into a sloppy kiss, grabbing hold of one of Joe’s hands as he tried to reach for his dick. “Ah, not yet,” he said, punctuating each word with a kiss

“Not fair,” Joe whined, pouting at Nicky in a way that was frankly adorable.

“Never claimed to be, now lay back,” he nudged at Joe’s chest, hoping he would for once do as he was told and just lay down.  
That was, of course, expecting too much of him.

Well, actually he sort of half obeyed as he was lying down, just not the way Nicky wanted him.  
Oh no, instead Joe just grinned at him in a way that signaled trouble before flipping around to lay on his front, throwing a cheeky smile over his shoulder while he rocked his hips down against the bed as if to say well I could always just get myself off of you won’t, and that just certainly would not do.

And Nicky, well Nicky reacted in the only way that seemed reasonable at the moment when Joe was acting like this while also presenting Nicky with an easy target. He brought his hand down right across Joe’s ass, the sharp crack of his hand making contact echoing through the room.

Joe jerked forward as Nicky’s hand struck, head dropping back and a string of expletives flowing from his lips, this time in Italian - which wasn’t that just the hottest thing Nicky had ever heard.

It also made Nicky realize that there was another, fairly important conversation that they needed to have before this went any further. Something they should have probably talked about before they had gotten this far along. 

“Joe, hey just look at me for a minute,” Nicky moved over in the bed, shifting so he was able to gently grip Joe’s chin and force him to look Nicky in the eye. Joe’s gaze was sort of soft and hazy in a way Nicky hadn’t been expecting after just one solid smack.

“Joe, I need you to focus up for just one second, can you do that?” Joe’s eyes cleared just a little, not much, but enough that Nicky knew he was at least processing what he was saying. After another few beats of silence Joe nodded.

“Have you ever done this sort of thing before?” Another pause and then a short nod. Well, at least they weren’t treading in completely unknown waters. “Good, I need you to tell me if it ever gets to be too much. We should have talked up front, set ground rules. I’m not going to go beyond spanking you but I need to trust that you’ll say something if that ends up being too much for you or if I say or do something you don’t like. Can you do that?” Another nod. “Joe, I need you to say it out loud so I know you’ve not already gone nonverbal.”

That seemed to pull Joe back to his usual self a bit if the exaggerated eye roll he gave Nicky was anything to go by. “I’ll tell you if I don’t like it or we need to stop, now can we get back to what we were doing,” he shook his hips a little in an effort to draw Nicky’s attention back where he wanted it.

“Brat,” Nicky mumbled, tapping Joe lightly on the cheek before moving around so he was behind Joe now. “But I’m being serious, do you have a safe word, know the color system?”

Joe turned his head to look back at Nicky and rolled his eyes again for effect. Nicky really had to fight the urge to punish Joe for that little act of defiance. It wouldn’t have been the responsible thing though, not when they hadn’t talked this through in advance and set boundaries and expectations. So instead he let Joe respond. 

“Red, yellow, green. Now can we please get back to the task at hand,” another wiggle of his hips. For a moment it looked like Joe might have had more to say but Nicky cut him off by grabbing hold of Joe’s hips and tugging him up and back so he was on his knees.

“This way you won’t be able to rut against the bed. You don’t get to come until you’re on my cock, ok?”

Joe didn’t answer, just tried to reach a hand down for his cock that Nicky quickly swatted away. “It’s almost like you’re trying to cause problems.”

“You’re hot when you’re annoyed,” was the only answer he got and Nicky didn’t really want to examine to much how Joe’s words left him with this sort of warm fuzzy feeling in his stomach.

Instead Nicky just brought his hand across one of Joe’s ass cheeks, enjoying the way the other man jerked forward with a curse.

“I’m only going to do this two more times and then I’m going to take my time opening you up until you’re begging for it and then maybe after that I’ll finally fuck you.”

No response, just a deep throated whine as Joe pushed his backside back into where Nicky’s hand was hovering over the side he had just struck.

Two more quick blows, one after the other in quick succession, left Joe shuddering beneath Nicky, his arms having given out forcing him to drop to his elbows, forehead pressed against the sheets.

Nicky bends forward, a soft kiss pressed against Joe’s shoulder blade. “Stay like this, I’ll be right back.”

He’s only gone for a moment, retrieving a bottle of lube and a condom from the table on the other side of the bed, but for once Joe does as he’s told and stayed where he was. Head turned to the side, dark eyes tracking Nicky as he moved across the room, his gorgeous cock hanging heavy between his legs.

“Good boy,” Nicky rewards him with another kiss to his back, noting the shudder that went through Joe’s body at the praise as he settles behind Joe, slicking his fingers up before unceremoniously pressing one into Joe.

Nicky was methodical I’m preparing Joe, and painfully slow and patient. In part because he wanted to ensure Joe was well prepared, but mostly in an effort to drive Joe insane.

It was working too if the way Joe was rocking back into Nicky was any indication.

“More,” Joe groaned out demanding.

“Hmm, what was that,” Nicky made no move to add another finger or move any faster. “You know if you just asked nicely I might be inclined to move a little bit faster.”

“If you keep moving at this pace we will be here all fucking night.”

“Hmmm, I don’t have anywhere else to be.”

“Nicky, I swear if you don’t get another finger in me right now I will fucking walk out of here and find someone who will.”

It was an empty threat, but Nicky took pity on Joe and added another finger, delighting in the soft groan he dragged from Joe. A few moments more and a little more urging from Joe and he finally added a third.

Nicky knew the exact moment he had found Joe’s prostate by the way Joe let out a sharp shout, immediately driving himself back onto Nicky’s fingers in search of more.

“There we go,” Nicky found himself saying as he pressed mercilessly against that spot, Joe absolutely writhing beneath him.

“Nicky...fuck,” Joe’s voice sounded absolutely wrecked and it was definitely going right to Nicky’s dick. Jesus he couldn’t remember the last time he was this hard, he wasn’t sure how much longer he would be able to hold out and for the first time tonight he was starting to really wonder if he would end up being the one to break first and just cave and fuck Joe long before he begged for it.

Lucky for Nicky, Joe did break, and only moments before Nicky.

“Nicky, fuck Nicky please,” it wasn’t exactly the sort of begging he had been aiming for but close enough.

Nicky removed his hand, ignoring Joe’s whine before ripping open the condom, fumbling for just a moment with the foil packet, rolling it onto himself and slicking himself up.

On hand went to Joe’s hip, the other to guide himself as he pressed in.

It was almost too much at first, the warm press of Joe surrounding him. He desperately wanted to just thrust all the way in in one go but Joe was impossibly tight so he forced himself to go slow until his hips were pressed flush against Joe.

Nicky gave himself a moment here, curling over Joe to press his forehead against the feverish skin of Joe’s shoulder blade, the pause as much an opportunity for Joe to adjust as it was for Nicky to take a moment so he could ensure this wasn’t over embarrassingly fast.

“Nicky, please, move,” Joe is starting to beg in earnest now, hands clawing at the sheets, face turned back to look at Nicky out of his periphery, lips red from where he had bitten them in a bid to keep silent.

He’s stunning like this, a little strung out and needy and Nicky finds himself straightening up, pulling Joe with him with one hand on his hip and the other hand coming up to rest across Joe’s throat, not really applying any pressure, but just resting against it, holding him in place. 

This new position lets Joe lean he head back against Nicky’s shoulders and its this new closeness that allows Nicky to finally catch sight of the desperate look in Joe’s eyes, tears gathering up at the corner but as of yet refusing to fall. He murmurs something, Arabic again maybe. He’s been moving between languages the whole night but for some reason this time it feels different, like he was saying something softer and gentler, something intended more for a lover than whatever the hell it is they were.

Nicky is gentle at the start, neither of them are going to last long as it is but he’d rather like to get as much enjoyment out of this moment as he could. He rolls his hips, driving into Joe in a way that forces out this little punched out noise from him followed by more words in a language Nicky doesn’t entirely understand, Dutch this time possibly? One thing is for certain, Nicky is fairly sure he has fucked the English right out of Joe.

That leisurely gentleness doesn’t last long though, Joe is starting to tremble in his arms and the inarticulate babbling is starting to come faster and sounds increasingly desperate. Nicky begins to drive into Joe faster and harder, reveling in the way Joe feels and how wonderful it is to have this stunning, proud creature shaking apart in his arms.

Two, three more thrusts and he can feel Joe clamp down on him, head thrown back over Nicky’s shoulder as he screams through his release before slumping back into Nicky’s hold, completely trusting that Nicky would hold him up.

Nicky held Joe for a moment, fully prepared to pull out and just finish himself when Joe spoke, this time in Italian so Nicky was able to understand him. “Keep going, I want you to finish in me.”

Nicky startled a bit at his words, hips jerking forward and Joe letting out a weak sob at how over-sensitized he was. “You’re sure?” He asked, pulling back a little so he could actually see Joe’s face.

He looked completely spent, lips puffy and red, tear tracks on his face, but his eyes were clear as he looked at Nicky.

“Mhmm,” he hummed, turning to press a soft kiss to Nicky’s neck. “I like it.”

That was all the assurance Nicky needed as he began to thrust again, soft, broken noises coming from Joe each time he pressed in, muffled by the way Joe had pressed his face into Nicky’s neck.

It didn’t take long, a minute, maybe two, before Nicky was coming, grabbing hold of Joe’s hair to pull him into a rough kiss as he panted through his own release.

When they collapse down into the bed he is careful to avoid the wet spot Joe left, even goes so far as to shove the blanket that had been on the bed off the edge, and it’s a good thing he does because the moment they’re horizontal Joe is rolling over onto his front right where that spot had been.

Nicky pulls the condom off, tying it and tossing it in the general direction of the trash that was by his nightstand.

When he rolls back to face Joe the other man has his head pillowed on his arms, turned sideways to look at Nicky with a big satisfied grin on his face. “I expected it to be good but I certainly wasn’t expecting that.”

“Likewise,” Nicky comments, settling onto his back and staring up at the ceiling. They should get up and get cleaned off. He should be pushing Joe out the door, not sitting here and enjoying the afterglow like this was more than just a simple fuck to work off some tension and he certainly shouldn’t be sitting here wondering how nice it might feel to just fall asleep right now and wake up with Joe next to him.

“Not going to kick me out right away?” When Nicky turned to look at Joe the other man had a brow raised inquisitively but somehow Nicky was also able to read the sort of tentative, hopeful look on his face.

“Do you want me to?”

Joe remained silent, instead shifting onto his side, snuggling into Nicky, leg thrown over Nicky’s and arm across his chest while he tucked his nose behind Nicky’s ear.

“We should get cleaned up at least,” Nicky found himself saying.

“Five minutes,” Joe mumbled sleepily and Nicky didn’t think he could deny Joe anything with that adorable sleep heavy voice of his. At the very least he could convince himself that he was being the responsible one by not just kicking Joe out, cuddling was often an important part of aftercare really. 

Five minutes later they were both passed out, tangled around each other.


	5. Chapter 5

Nicky woke first, his internal clock pulling him from sleep at 5:00 am despite not getting to bed until well after midnight.

Sometime in the night they had shifted. Nicky was now laying on his side, Joe tucked behind him arm across Nicky’s waist and nose pressed into the nape of Nicky’s neck. Nicky in turn had one of Joe’s legs tucked between his, their feet tangled together.

It was a surprisingly comfortable way to wake up, not stifling hot as he would have expected, so he let himself doze for a little longer. 

Sunday’s were his day off after all, when he left the management of the bakery to his small squadron of college age baristas under the close watch of Mrs. Tsachekevitz, an older Polish woman from up the street, so it’s not as though there was any rush to get up.

He woke again and glanced over at the clock on the bedside table. 6:34 a.m. he couldn’t remember the last time he’d actually lazed in bed this long. Before Sofia, certainly, possibly even before the bakery opened. It was nice. But he also wasn’t about to just waste the day.

He was careful as he pulled away from Joe’s embrace. He probably should be waking the other man and bustling him out the door. Probably shouldn’t have even allowed him to spend the night, but one look at Joe’s face, completely relaxed and at ease, and he couldn’t find it in himself to wake the other man.

So instead he pulled on a pair of sweatpants and an old well worn black hoody of his and made his way down to the bakery, this time through the stairway that led directly into the kitchen rather than the side door they had used last night.

When he walked in Marina was already hard at work rolling out some dough for chocolate croissants, another batch cooling on the industrial sized cooling rack Nicky had set up in the kitchen. While all the bakery items on Sunday’s were simple, mostly just things that could be made quickly from whatever dough Nicky had left chilled for them to use, Marina was becoming quite adept in the kitchen and the chocolate croissants were a recipe all her own and they were always delicious.

“Morning Marina,” Nicky greeted her before grabbing two mugs off the shelf and pouring coffee into each from the machine sitting in the corner, adding cream and two sugars to Joe’s since he was unsure how the other man might take his coffee and that seemed inoffensive enough. He also snagged two croissants and put them on a plate, balancing it a bit precariously atop the mug that held his coffee.  
When he turned around Marina was staring at him with wide eyes that darted from his face down to the two mugs and two croissants before breaking into a wide grin. “Someone has company.”

Nicky felt himself blush. “It’s not like that!” He defended quickly.

“Uh huh, sure. Will you need help with the door?” She pointed down to his hands which were full and then back towards the stairs.

“No.” He stopped for a moment, realizing that he wouldn’t exactly be able to get his apartment door open without putting everything down on the floor and the answered again. “Ok, maybe a little.”

“I’ll get it for you,” and before he could say anything she was bounding up the stairs and blowing right through his door which he had left unlocked since he hadn’t really been at all concerned with someone breaking in via the bakery when he was in the kitchen. He probably should have seen something like this coming.

“Marina wait!” He moved as quickly as he could after her while still trying to balance the coffees and plate but by the time he caught up to her she was standing in his bedroom doorway, fist pressed to her mouth to fight back laughter.

Joe was, luckily, still fast asleep, lying on his front, sheet draped low across his hips, just barely covering the swell of his perfect ass.

“Damn Nicky, you did good,” Marina hissed at him, keeping her voice low so as to not wake Joe up.

And Nicky couldn’t really argue with that, not with all that gorgeous skin muscle laid out for him on his bed, soft messy curls and eyes that would not doubt be hazy with sleep and endlessly sweet in the morning light once Joe woke up. It was a nice fantasy to get caught up in.

But that’s all it was and all it could be. Joe wasn’t interested in him, at least not beyond anything physical. 

“It’s not like that,” he moved quietly across the room, putting the plate and one of the mugs on the table beside Joe, before shooing Marina out of the apartment.

He should wake Joe up, send him on he way he thought as he closed the door, sipping his own coffee as he ambled back towards the bedroom.

Of course the universe had other plans.

“Morning Nicky.”

—

Joe was a heavy sleeper but he wasn’t that heavy of a sleeper. Also Nicky wasn’t as sneaky than he thought he was.

He woke briefly when Nicky first got out of bed, watching through half closed eyes as he pulled on clothes, feigning sleep anytime Nicky looked over at him.

After the door closed behind Nicky Joe found himself dozing off again. The bed was astoundingly comfortable and he was warm and pleasantly sore so he couldn’t exactly help it. Nicky had worn him out last night in the absolute best way possible and even though he knew he should probably be getting up and making his escape right now, he couldn’t really find it in himself to move much beyond rolling over onto his front and curling around the pillow Nicky had been using, delighting in the way it was still warm and smelled faintly of Nicky who always smelled a bit like the air before a rainstorm.

He wasn’t sure how much time had passed, but he woke again to the low murmur of voices and a cup and plate being set down in the bedside table. When he opened his eyes he saw Nicky’s retreating back, herding a young laughing woman with bright pink hair down the hall.

He had moved to sit up, back against the headboard and sheet strategically placed to cover his lower half in the most appealing way possible, as he heard the door closing and Nicky making his way back towards the bedroom. He picked up his coffee and took a few sips. It wasn’t perfect, a touch too much sugar and not enough cream, but it was closer than he expected.

Nicky walked into the room and Joe felt his voice dry up. Nicky looked adorable, barefoot in sweats and a threadbare hoodie, still kind of sleepy and soft, it made his chest tighten up in a way he simply could not translate.

He recovered quickly enough though, hiding his goofy smile behind a sip of coffee.

“Morning Nicky.”

He could feel his grin widen when Nicky startled at his voice, just barely avoiding spilling his own coffee.

“Joe, how long have you actually been awake?”

“Long enough to know there was a strange young woman in here for some reason. Should I be concerned that I wasn’t enough to satisfy you last night?” All Joe got for that comment was a dry look so Joe forged on. “Thank you, for the coffee, it was a nice surprise when I was half expecting to be thrown out without much ceremony this morning.” He took another sip of coffee to hide the way he was drowning now, concerned that he may have just shot himself in the foot and was now about to be kicked out simply for pointing out that it was what he had expected. He had been enjoying the morning so far and would have liked to continue to enjoy it for a little longer if he could.

Based on the look on Nicky’s face, he might be struggling with the same considerations and internal conflict Joe was. Well, maybe Joe could do something about that. They’d clearly connected on a physical level even if they were all over the map on any sort of emotional or psychological connections, maybe he could use that to cut through a bit of the awkwardness and uncertainty that had settled between them this morning.

He glanced over at the alarm clock Nicky kept by his bedside. It was just a bit before 7 am and he didn’t have to pick Nadia up until 9 and he assumed Nicky would be picking up Sofia at the same time. Two hours, he could work with that.

Joe moved out from beneath the sheet, fully aware of how he looked in the morning light, throwing a little extra sway into his hips as he sauntered over towards Nicky. He stopped right in front of Nicky, enjoying the way Nicky’s eyes raked up and down his frame.

“Care to direct me towards the shower, then I can get out of your hair?” He intentionally pitched his voice low when he spoke.

Nicky just turned bright red and pointed towards the door across the room.

“Thanks,” Joe smiled brightly and turned to walk towards the bathroom, just pausing at the door to turn back to look at Nicky who was now blatantly staring at his ass. “You know you can join me if you’d like.”

He didn’t wait to see if Nicky would respond before stepping into the bathroom and turning the shower on.


	6. Chapter 6

Nicky’s shower was amazing. Perfect water pressure and water that got warm astoundingly quickly.

It was almost enough to take Joe’s mind off the fact that it seemed Nicky wasn’t going to be following him into the shower. He would have enjoyed that, after all he was itching to get his mouth on Nicky after last night, see how successful he might be when it was his turn to turn Nicky into an incoherent, stuttering mess.

Oh well.

He closed his eyes and tilted his head back, just standing there, enjoying the way the water felt on his sore muscles and reminiscing about last night. He’d known the sex would be good but he hadn’t expected them to click so perfectly. The way Nicky had handled him, just the right side of controlling and a little rough while still being so patient and careful with Joe, treating him like he was something special worth cherishing while somehow still managing to put him in his place, it had just felt right 

He was so lost in thought that he didn’t even notice Nicky had entered the bathroom until the glass door to the shower was sliding open and a very naked Nicky stepped in next to him and immediately crowded him back against the shower wall.

“Why are you always such a tease?” Joe thinks Nicky might have been going for the sort of dominant, growling presence he had been last night, but in the morning light, under the hot spray of the shower it just seemed endlessly fond in a way that Joe wasn’t expecting after how constantly they had sniped and bitched at each other for the last week.

“It’s a natural instinct,” it wasn’t, well not with most people. Joe liked romance, sex and love but he was usually very direct in his pursuits rather than teasing or coy. Nicky was different though, made him want to poke and press to see what might happen and where it might get them. Must be because the lack of a possible romantic future for them and how everything was mostly physical.

Teasing this morning had gotten them here after all, which is exactly what Joe wanted right now. So he leaned forward for a slow, dirty kiss, hands on Nicky’s chest, pushing him back towards the other side of the shower with short halting steps so they never broke away from the kiss.

With Nicky pressed against the shower wall they were both just out of the spray of water, which made the air against Joe’s wet skin chilly, skin pebbling up with goose flesh and a shiver running down his spine. He thought it was a small price to pay for not having to navigate giving the best blow job he had ever given with water in his eyes.

He pulled back from the kiss before he could get too distracted with how good Nicky was at kissing again, and slid down to his knees as gracefully as possible given the circumstances. There would probably be bruises tomorrow, but it would be worth it because of the way Nicky was looking down at him now.

Nicky’s eyes were half lidded as he looked down at Joe, his face was red - probably due to the heat of the shower but Joe likes to think the vision of him in his knees was a contributing factor as well- and his lower lip was caught between his teeth, as though he was desperately fighting back against making any noise.

Joe held Nicky’s gaze, sliding a finger up the inseam of Nicky’s leg, trailing up from the ankle all the way to his groin as he spoke. “I thought I might return the favor this morning and see if you enjoy my mouth half as much as I enjoyed yours last night.” The way Nicky groaned and tipped his head back against the wall breaking their eye contact was almost as satisfying as the way his cock, already hard and right in front of Joe, twitched in interest.  
Joe seriously considered just diving in and going right to deep throating Nicky immediately just to get that mouthwatering dick in him again, but he wanted to drag this out a bit, really show Nicky exactly what he was capable of so instead he just licked a long wet strip up the underside before taking the head in his mouth, running his tongue along the slit and reveling in the way it made Nicky groan.

Slowly Joe began moving up and down, taking in Nicky a bit more each time. Nicky, to his credit, was doing his best to hold as still as possible, hips only hitching occasionally into a shallow thrust when he lost a little control and his knuckles gone white where they were fisted by his sides.

It was endearingly polite, but also not what Joe necessarily wanted from Nicky right now. He wanted more of what he’d had last night and it seemed he was going to have to tell Nicky it was what he wanted this time. 

“You can fuck my mouth you know,” he said as he pulled off Nicky with an obscene pop, hand coming up to stroke him while he continued on. “I think I’d like it if you held me down on your cock.”

Nicky let out a particularly creative curse in Italian and Joe found himself pressing the heel of his palm against his own dick in an effort to stop from getting overly excited by what was clearly Nicky teetering at the edge of his own control.

“Bet you could make me come untouched with just your hands in my hair and your dick in my mouth.”

And just like that Nicky’s control completely shattered. He buried one hand in Joe’s hair, using it to tug Joe forward and thrust all the way in. Joe in turn tried his best to relax his throat and breath through his nose as Nicky started thrusting. Nicky may not have been the biggest cock Joe had ever deep throated in his life, but he was in the larger side and it was testing every bit of Joe’s skill and control.

“Fuck, fuck, shit Joe.” Watching Nicky fall apart above him was glorious and Joe doubled down on his efforts, moaning around Nicky. Fuck, he so wanted to take his own dick in hand, see if the could both come at the same time but for some reason the thought of touching himself didn’t feel right.

Instead he put all his focus on Nicky and his reward for that was the sharp stutter of Nicky’s hips and a hand in his hair pulling him in so that Joe’s nose was pressed to Nicky’s stomach.

“Fuck, fuck I’m going to come, tap my thigh if you don’t want it to be down your throat.”  
Joe just looked up at and met Nicky’s gaze. He’s sure he looked like a mess, he could certainly feel the tears hanging on his lashes, but something in that look must have been enough for Nicky because next thing he knew he felt the hot flood of release in his mouth, pulling back just enough when Nicky’s grip eased in his hair so that he wouldn’t choke, and milking Nicky through it.

He pulled off before Nicky got to the point of being over-sensitized and rose to his feet, a little wobbly and unstable as the same warm fuzzy feeling from last night settled in his head, leaning in for a sloppy, lazy kiss.

One of Nicky’s hands found its way back into Joe’s hair, tugging in a way that had Joe whining into the kiss. Nicky knowing how much of a weakness Joe had for having his hair played with was going to be a real problem. Nicky’s other hand went down to Joe’s cock, intent on getting him off as well but Joe pulled away again.

Suddenly something clicked in place for Joe, Nicky’s words about Joe not coming until he was on his cock echoing through his head again. Logically Joe knew that Nicky had meant that just in the context of last night but somehow he felt like it was important still, something that he needed to abide by even now.

He couldn’t explain it, knew if he tried he would sound insane and would probably terrify Nicky and that would just ruin the pleasant buzz of pleasure he had going right now, so instead he made up an excuse, one that was likely to get them both out the door and might give Joe enough space to clear his head a bit. “I’m fine, and we don’t have time, I need to leave and pick up Nadia.”

“We’ve got time,” Nicky asserted, kissing Joe again and trying to take him in hand once more.

Joe just pulled back again, “not if we both want to get clean and if we expect my hair to dry before we leave, trust me, these curls retain water like nobodies business.”  
Nicky ended up acquiescing at that, although he hadn’t looked happy about it.

—

Joe had been right, it had taken forever for his curls to dry and in the end they’d both given up and Joe had let Nicky towel dry them which left Joe’s hair looking like a giant ball of frizz.  
“Well, I’m stealing a hat too,” Joe mentioned when he caught sight of himself in the mirror.  
Nicky wasn’t even sure he had a hat for Joe to steal - hats weren’t really his thing - but he searched for one in his closet regardless and what he found was this absolutely gaudy leopard print monstrosity that he thinks Andy might have given him as a white elephant gift last year.

Well, he guessed that would work.

Joe was already dressed in Nicky’s clothes when he walked back into the bedroom, a loose black shirt and a pair of Nicky’s jeans highlighting all of Joe’s assets perfectly and making Nicky’s mouth go dry.

“Here,” rather than examining the uncomfortable feeling of rightness that he felt seeing Joe in his bedroom dressed in his clothes he just shoved the hat in Joe’s direction. Maybe seeing Joe in something as stupid as that hat would help stop some of the issues Nicky was having with remembering that he and Joe were very much not in a relationship and never would be.

It didn’t. Joe looked delighted by the hat, immediately jamming it on his head backwards, an adorable little tuft of curls popping out the front to rest on his forehead. 

“Perfect, thanks Nicky. Is my jacket still I’m the front hall?”

Fuck, the next twenty minutes between getting out of the apartment, picking the girls up and going their separate ways was going to be a serious challenge for Nicky.

—

Somehow, and Nicky is really not sure how they managed it given the way Joe looked and how much Nicky wanted to jump him one last time before they had to go back to acting like they’d never seen each other naked, they made it out the door on time.

It was a nice day for November, a bit chilly but not terrible as they were both dressed in jackets, so they had opted to walk rather than catch the train. It wasn’t far to Andy and Quynh’s place from Nicky’s, maybe 30 minutes in total, but they’d walked in mostly companionable silence.

It was.....it was actually really nice if Nicky was being honest.

Neither of them felt the need to fill the silence very much, just a few passing comments here and there about things they were working on or something upcoming for the girls. Given everything that had passed between them in the span of less than a week, being around Joe was steadily becoming something familiar and comfortable for Nicky.

And that was in a lot of ways kind of terrifying. Hating Joe, or at least pretending to hate him, had been easy. Made it so that whatever existed between them was clearly defined and could be shoved away into a nice little box in the corner of Nicky’s mind where he didn’t have to examine it or the feelings attached to it any further. But last night, seeing Joe like that, watching him turn all sweet and trusting, it had taken something Nicky had thought was purely physical and made it feel like it was something more, something meaningful.

It had been just Nicky and Sofia for so long now that the idea of someone else starting to worm their way into their life, even if there was even the slimmest possibility that Joe might be beginning to feel the same as Nicky did, was terrifying.

None of that did anything to stop Nicky from thinking about how easy it might be to just reach over and take Joe’s hand, let what had started as a silly grudge begin to morph into something new.

He didn’t though, instead he just shoved his hands down further into his pockets.

They probably should have arrived separately, diverted suspicion and saved themselves some ridicule, but unfortunately that thought hadn’t occurred to Nicky until about two seconds after he had knocked on the door of Andy and Quynh’s brownstone, Joe standing just a few steps away, dressed in Nicky’s clothes making it painfully obvious what they had been doing last night.

He began to turn to tell Joe as much to recommend that maybe one of them should duck around the corner for a minute or two, but Andy was too quick to the door and when Nicky turned back to look at her he could see it in her wide smile that it had taken only a few seconds for her to put it all together.

“You know when I steered Booker in the direction of Joe’s date I thought it might be a good opportunity for you two to talk, that you might start to figure out the whole unresolved sexual tension thing but I didn’t think you would end up in bed together that quickly.”

“I have no idea what you are talking about,” Nicky commented primly trying to play innocent.

“Uh huh, is that why Joe is wearing your hat?”

“Actually Nicky and I ran into each other on the way here, my hair was a mess and I hadn’t realized it when I left and Nicky happened to have a hat in his bag and was kind enough to let me borrow it.” Oh Joe, that was one of the least believable things he could have come up with. Like Nicky would ever carry around that absurd hat. Still, it was sweet of him to try.

Andy looked less impressed by Joe’s efforts. “You two really want to keep pretending this isn’t a thing then you might want to do a better job of hiding that hicky.”

Nicky looked back at Joe again now, noting the red mark on his throat just visible above the collar of his shirt. Huh, he’s not sure how he missed that this morning, he was usually more observant than that.

“Andy it’s not...” Joe started to say but Andy waived him off. “The girls have been playing most of the morning. They’ve had breakfast and should be good to go.”

As though summoned by Andy’s words three little blurs came streaking down the hall, Sofia barreling into Nicky’s legs, Nadia racing past him to jump into Joe’s arms. Talia, meanwhile, was in the midst of trying to climb onto her mother’s back after she had taken a flying leap towards her.

“Papa, papa, Nadia and I have matching hair now, look, she turned so he could see the very pretty French braid her hair had been bound up in. He glanced back towards where Joe had lifted Nadia up into his arms, balancing her on one hip as she chattered away. Nadia’s hair was also pulled back into a braid, albeit one that was not quite as neat and tidy as Sofia’s given Nadia’s beautiful curls and that Quynh -at least he suspected it was Quynh and not Andy - was less practiced with braiding curly hair.

“And how very pretty it looks,” Nicky complimented. “You ready to go little one, we have to head to the farmers market to get some things and then we’ll head home, sound good?”

“Can Nadia come with us to the market?”Sophia asked, giving Nicky a wide pleading look that always made it so difficult for him to deny her anything.

Nicky looked back at Joe for an answer but all he got from Joe was a shrug and a look from Nadia that was almost as effective as Sofia’s.  
“Only if Joe says it’s ok and they have time.”

—

The farmers market actually ended up working out well as Joe needed a few things for dinner and it would give Nadia a bit more time to spend with her new friend.

If it meant he had to spend a little more time with Nicky that might help him sort out his rather complicated feelings about the Italian, well, that might be good as well.

Or bad, possibly very, very bad when he watched Nicky interact with Sofia and Nadia and saw how amazingly kind and sweet he was to both.

Joe was now starting to steadily realize that he didn’t dislike Nicky, not even in the slightest. 

No, now he was starting to think that he might be beginning to develop romantic feelings for Nicky and that was a far bigger problem.  
Nicky was gorgeous, kind, smart and a successful business owner and Joe was...well Joe.

Sure, he was a moderately successful artist, the gallery was doing great and he was endlessly proud of the job he was doing raising Nadia, but all of that didn’t mean that Joe had his life together by any stretch of the imagination.

His love life before Nadia was a string of vacuous assholes who were either only interested in sex, exhibit A being Keane last night, or unrepentant dickwads who managed to pretend to be good people just long enough to break his heart. After that though, he simply didn’t have much time for a relationship between Nadia, the gallery and his work so he hadn’t really attempted anything resembling a serious attempt at dating in the last three years. 

And his friends, while he may have called himself likable, his close friends were few and far between, mostly just Andy and Quynh. Nicky meanwhile seemed to have an actual circle of friends like any well adjusted adult would.

Yeah, Nicky was so completely out of his league and watching him interact with Nadia and Sofia was just making it even more obvious.

Lucky for Joe, outside of the absolutely spectacular sex they had shared last night and this morning Nicky had absolutely zero interest in him, or at least he thought that was the case. That made it a bit easier. If he could just convince himself it was all physical he could probably get over this rapidly developing crush fairly quickly.

They’d been at the market for maybe forty five minutes now, the girls darting between stalls and laughing while both Joe and Nicky grabbed a few things here and there and chatted with some of the vendors. Joe had a few bags but Nicky was practically overloaded and Joe’s not entirely sure how he managed to carry so much between the bags looped over his arm and those he had shoved into his messenger bag.

It’s one of the reasons why when he spots a vendor selling apple cider he lets Nicky know he’ll grab some for the girls. Nicky certainly wouldn’t be able to do so with his hands so full and Nadia loved apple cider, it was one of her favorite things about fall.

He’s pulled up short though, by a strong hand wrapped around his bicep. Nicky had shifted some bags other into his other hand and was holding him in place, stopping him from going over to the vendor offering cider and coffee.

“Not that one, they offer that terrible stuff that’s made from powder, let’s go back to the bakery, the girls can get some hot chocolate and we can both get a coffee.”

For some reason Joe found himself nodding along and calling the girls over so they could head out.

Fuck all he was such an idiot sometimes.

—

Nicky has no idea why he suggested going back to the bakery and even less of an idea as to why Joe might have said yes. He’s thought for sure he would have made some excuse about needing to go home or something. But here they were, back at Nicky’s bakery just about two hours before it closed at 1 like it did every Sunday.

Most of the Sunday crew was gone, just Marina left manning the front counter, book in hand and finger twirling a strand of her bubblegum pink ponytail. 

Sunday’s were always quiet, but particularly so after 10 am, so when they all walked in there were only two other people in the bakery, an older man, sitting at one of the corner tables with a newspaper and a young woman with her nose buried in a book at one of the more comfortable chairs by the front window.  
Marina’s eyes lit up the moment they entered, walking around the counter so she could crouch down to eye level as Sofia ran up to her, Nadia in tow.

“Hey there peanut, who is your friend?”

“This is Nadia, my new best friend!”

“Hi!” Nadia chirped giving Marina a wide smile.

“Any chance we can grab two hot chocolates, a black coffee and a....” he looked back towards Joe.

“Flat white,” Joe answered reaching for his wallet.

“On the house,” Nicky added in before Joe could pay.

“You already gave me coffee and croissants this morning,” Joe kept his voice low so the girls couldn’t hear them across the bakery.

“And I distinctly remember us not even getting to the croissants,” Nicky responded in a hushed whisper, eyes darting across the room to note that Marina was throughly distracted by her conversation with the girls, now asking what they wanted in their hot chocolate.

“And whose fault was that,” Joe teased in return.

“I believe you were the one to instigate the bathroom quickie.”

Joe didn’t respond, just threw a cheeky smile towards him as he set his bags on a nearby table and made his way over to say hello to Marina.

“Anything to eat?” Marina asked after she had greeted Joe, stepping around the counter to make the hot chocolates and coffee.  
Nicky should have known the sly grin that spread across Joe’s face was trouble.  
Joe leaned his elbows on the counter and flashed Marina a charming smile. “You wouldn’t happen to have any baklava would you, I’ve just had the worst craving for it almost all week.”

If Joe had bothered to turn around he would have seen the daggers Nicky was glaring at the back of his head.

“Hmm, I don’t think we do but I’m sure Nicky could wip up a batch, I think he might even have prepped some phyllo dough already.”

Nicky turned his glare towards Marina now. “Marina, any chance you and I can chat in the back quick,” he didn’t wait for her to respond, just stepped behind the counter and back into the kitchen trusting Joe would keep an eye on the girls.

Marina followed him back and when the door swung shut behind her she said, “Nicky, and I say this as a woman who is very much only interested in sex with other women, but I would be one hundred percent down with climbing that man like a tree if given the opportunity. Like I’m sorry but why have you even let him out of your bed? In my opinion you should both still be upstairs fucking each other’s brains out.”

“It’s not like that...”Nicky started to say before realizing that was a waste of breath and changed course. “He’s not interested.”

“Uh huh, yeah that’s totally the impression I got when I saw him naked in your bed this morning. Which, also if I might add, kudos for snagging someone who is that blisteringly hot naked but also manages to have a halfway decent sense of fashion. Like that hat is fire on him.”

A part of Nicky wanted to mention that everything Joe was wearing except for the jacket was his, but that just didn’t seem to be worth his time either. “Look, I’m pretty sure that was a one time thing so can we move on?”

Marina’s eyes softened a bit and she nudged Nicky with her shoulder. “I just want you to be happy, you’re so good to everyone else and you deserve something good in your life too. I made some assumptions based on the way he can’t keep his eyes off of you, but if you don’t want me to talk about it I won’t.”

“Thank you Marina.”

“Now about that baklava, cause that really does sound delicious right about now.”


	7. Chapter 7

They did end up making baklava, and somehow Joe got roped into helping as well.  
Nicky had closed up early, just about fifteen minutes after they had arrived when the two remaining patrons finally left, and Marina had kindly offered to babysit the girls for a bit while Joe and Nicky cooked so they had settled in the front room with some coloring books and some leftover pastries from the case. Joe was probably going to live to regret the amount of sugar Nadia was having today, but with the way Nicky was standing so close to him right now and the heat radiating off his body he couldn’t find it in himself to worry about that. 

Nicky and Joe had worked in relative silence outside of the brief initial argument about ingredients, Joe winning that fight and having them stick to a traditional recipe rather than any of the fancy ones Nicky wanted to try. Joe was just washing his hands off now while Nicky put the baklava in the oven.

“You know I hadn’t been serious about you making baklava today, it was more a joke than anything else,” Joe commented from the sink, looking over his shoulder at Nicky while he dried his hands on a towel.

Nicky just shrugged. “Marina was right, I had prepped some dough the other night that needed to be used so it worked out well.”

He moved to collect some bowls, stepping past Joe to drop them in the sink. It was then that Joe noticed the streak of flour on Nicky’s cheek and without even thinking about it he stepped into Nicky’s space and reached up to dust it off, only realizing what he had done when Nicky looked at him with wide eyes, Joe’s hand falling back to his side quickly.

“Sorry, you had some um...” why was he so dumb all the sudden, he could have just told Nicky. Fuck, was he really still that cock drunk from this morning that he couldn’t act like a normal human being around Nicky.

“Umm, thanks,” Nicky responded swiping at his cheek some more.

“I should probably get out of your hair, Nadia and I have taken up enough of your time and I don’t want to bother you anymore.”

“The baklava won’t be done for a while.”

“I know, but I just feel like we’ve hung around long enough, and I’m sure you didn’t want to spend your day off baking for me.”

Nicky just poked him in the chest. “I wouldn’t have made it for you if I didn’t want to,” the moment he finished speaking he flushed bright red and it might have been the cutest thing Joe had ever seen. “Besides, having a second set of hands to help was nice.”

Seeing that Nicky might be at least a little bit effected by Joe’s presence here helped him regain a little bit of his confidence so his next words were back to his usual teasing tone he seemed inclined to take on around Nicky. 

“Even if those hands demanded you stick to something dull and traditional and didn’t allow you to deviate with some off the wall ingredients.”

“Even if those hands are completely lacking in taste and don’t recognize hazelnuts and pomegranate as a perfectly good baklava ingredients,” Nicky responded with a smile.

That smile is what did Joe in at the end of it all. It was just so sweet and gentle. He’d seen Nicky look that way at multiple other people, Booker, Andy, Nadia a time or two, and Sofia in particular, but he’d never really seen it directed at him and solely him.

Till the day he died he would blame that smile for the actions he took next.

Joe leaned in, hand curling behind Nicky’s neck, pulling him in for a sweet, slow kiss.  
Nicky’s hands immediately curled around Joe’s waist, pulling him in close as the both sank into the kiss.

Compared to the few kisses they had shared thus far this one would have seemed positively tame. And yet somehow it also managed to be the single most electrifying kiss of Joe’s life.  
It was almost a little overwhelming and Joe had to pull away after only a moment, pressing his forehead against Nicky’s as he tried to gather his wits.

Shit. Well this had to be the fastest transition from annoyance and passing disdain to being head over heels for someone that he had ever seen.

—

Nicky just stood there for a moment, holding Joe close and simply breathing together while Joe stared at him from beneath his lashes, his gaze soft and a little unfocused.

That kiss had been...unexpected to say the least. Well, he guessed the act of the kiss wasn’t too surprising given their activities this morning, but the emotion behind it had caught Nicky off guard.

Joe was.....he couldn’t even really describe it, had never been that great at conveying emotions into words as it was, but he was quickly realizing that he didn’t hate Joe in the slightest. If anything that teasing antagonism that they had started off with had somehow morphed into something new since they fell into bed together and their entire dynamic was turned on its head.

Joe was frustrating and obstinate as hell, but he was also smart, kind, funny and sexy and all of that was becoming a potent combination. Nicky couldn’t remember the last time he had managed to be both so annoyed with and so attracted to someone at the same time and it really was not fair.

So instead of saying something he leaned back in for another kiss, still fairly chaste by all accounts, hoping he might be able to convey to Joe some of the confusion and uncertainty he was struggling with in this moment. Make Joe see what Nicky was struggling to say. 

“We should go,” Joe said again when he pulled away from the kiss, voice low.

“Stay,” Nicky found himself saying without really thinking about it, reeling Joe back in for another kiss and trying not to overthink the way Joe practically melted into his arms.

Kissing Joe was simple, almost thoughtless in how well the fit together. Following each other’s lead and both of them giving as good as they got. In fact everything physical so far had been so simple and right, it was the emotional side that Nicky found himself struggling with now.

“At least until the baklava is done,” he added pulling away from Joe entirely now and turning on the water so he could do dishes. “You can help with dishes and tell me about the gallery while we wait.”

Nicky felt his heart flutter at the way Joe’s face lit up when he mentioned the gallery.

He also realized that asking Joe to talk about something he was passionate about in an effort to deflect from his own growing feelings was a very, very bad idea as it just gave him a chance to marvel at Joe’s passion more.

Nicky noticed last night that Joe had a tendency to downplay his successes, to talk about his work as though it was something normal, even pedestrian, but Nicky could read between the lines enough to recognize how good Joe was at his job, even without Booker around to prod Joe for details about the different pieces of art he had produced or the restoration projects he had worked on.

But the gallery, Joe talked about that in almost the same manner he would talk about Nadia, with this deep rooted affection and in a way that was so overflowing with joy that he practically glowed.

It was beautiful and Nicky couldn’t resist leaning over to kiss Joe again, both of them standing side by side at the sink, elbow deep in soapy water, cutting Joe off mid sentence.

This constant impulse to just lean over and kiss Joe was sort of becoming a thing for him it seemed. He probably should examine that a bit more.

—

Joe wasn’t sure where that kiss over the dishes came from, but he wasn’t about to complain or pass up the opportunity to kiss Nicky more.

Kissing Nicky, touching Nicky and being around him just felt sort of right, like a puzzle piece that he hadn’t even noticed had been missing.

Still, they needed to talk about all this like adults, it was the healthy thing to do so Joe pulled back. “What was that for?”

Nicky just shrugged and went back to washing dishes, apparently not having an answer.

Yeah, that wouldn’t do.

Joe reached out, soapy hand taking hold of Nicky’s wrist and pausing his movements. “I think we need to take a minute to figure out what that was about don’t you?”

Nicky didn’t answer, just stared at Joe with wide eyes.

Well, this was unexpected, Nicky had taken charge most of the time but now it seemed like it was Joe’s turn to step up a bit. “Let me take you out, sometime this week, we can get to know each other better rather than continually pretending to hate each other and then end up falling into bed when we finally have had enough of being at each other’s throats.”

Joe proceeded to hold his breath as he waited for Nicky’s answer.

—

“I work weird hours,” Nicky had no idea why he was making an excuse.

“So do I.”

“I’d have to find a babysitter,” why was he suddenly determined to self sabotage right now. Sure, going on a date with Joe was terrifying, but Joe was right that it was probably a good step for them given how quickly they had fallen into bed and he actually really wanted to get to know Joe better.

“So would I. You know if you’re not interested you can just say no? I get that it might just be physical for you but I thought it might be good if we at least tried to get to know each other.” 

Well shit, he hadn’t meant to set Joe on the defensive like that, time for a little damage control.

Joe released Nicky’s wrist and made a move to step back away from him but Nicky was faster, soapy hands grabbing hold of Joe’s shirt so he couldn’t pull back, completely disregarding the way he managed to fling water everywhere and how he was getting Joe’s shirt all wet.

“I don’t.....it’s not like that....I’m just not sure........” Nicky kept trailing off, trying to find the words while Joe continued to look increasingly crestfallen with each attempt.

He didn’t have the right words to express how he was feeling. The odd combination of fear and trepidation layered over desire and want was not something he could really described, so instead he opted for actions. He needed to show how he felt and what he meant and hope Joe might understand that he wasn’t saying no, he just didn’t know what to do.

He pulled Joe in for another kiss, poured every ounce of emotion he could into it and hoped Joe would understand.

He didn’t.

When Joe pulled away his eyes were cold and closed off, all the warmth and emotion from before shoved behind a wall. He was gentle when he took Nicky’s hand and untangled it from his shirt, but firm nonetheless.

“I should leave, I’ll go and get Nadia and we’ll see ourselves out. Thank you for the coffee and hot chocolate.” And with that he was turning away from Nicky and making his way out of the kitchen and into the front room. 

Every part of Nicky was screaming at him to chase after Joe, to find the goddamn words that would be right.

But he didn’t.

—

Joe couldn’t believe how stupid he could have been to think that there was something there. That Nicky might be interested in something beyond the physical aspects of what was between them.

He was so stupid to fall for a sweet smile and a few tender kisses.

When he entered the front room Marina was in there talking quietly with the girls while they colored, explaining to them the ways you could combine different colors to make new colors. 

Joe managed to get through thanking her for watching Nadia and managed to get Nadia bundled back in her coat before ducking out the front, unsure if he should be upset or relieved that Nicky didn’t even try to follow him. 

He was halfway home before he realized that he had left everything he had purchased at the farmers market in the front of the bakery.

Well, too late now. Too late for so many things it seemed.


	8. Chapter 8

Joe had left his groceries and clothes from the night before at Nicky’s. Nicky should have returned them, should have followed after Joe and brought him the items he had purchased at the market and the clothing, but that would have meant facing Joe down again and trying all over again to find the right words.

So instead the produce Joe had purchased were dropped at a nearby homeless shelter and Joe’s jeans and henley remained nicely folded on Nicky’s side table, still smelling of Joe, like parchment and canvas for days after their encounter.

The next week or so passed in a haze for Nicky. He didn’t see Joe often but when he did Joe avoided his eyes and they barely spoke. 

The first PTA meeting following that weekend was awkward as hell because of it and he could see the way the other’s looked at both of them, trying to figure out what had changed between them.

Nicky had begged off of dinner with the other fathers the first Saturday, had instead enjoyed a night in while Sofia had another sleepover with Talia and Nadia at Andy & Quynh’s. He had avoided Joe by arriving as early as he could to drop Sofia off without seeming rude and he had picked her up the following morning at 8 am, well before the usual pick up.

He’d expertly avoided Joe, and most everyone else as well, for almost a week and a half following the incident at the bakery and the night that had preceded it, right up until the second PTA meeting that followed.

He should have known something odd was going on when he and Booker arrived at the front of the school at the same time. Booker was rarely on time and Nicky had arrived early, even for him, this Tuesday. Stranger still, Andy was just inside the doors, as though she was waiting for someone.

He certainly knew something was off when Booker and Andy flanked him on each side, grabbing his arm and steering him towards one of the supply closets and unceremoniously shoving him into it.

It took a moment for him to orient himself, but when he did he noticed Joe standing across from him in the dim light, leaning back against a shelving unit with his arms crossed. He looked good too, light blue running shirt stretched across his chest, dark hair a bit wild. Nicky would never stop being amazed at how handsome Joe was every time he saw him.

“So, I think this is their way of hinting that we need to talk.”

\--

Joe was hardly surprised when Nicky was shoved into the room behind him, He had known something strange was going on when Nile had locked him in here.

She had asked him if he could swing through early before the PTA meeting. The fourth grade classes were starting a new art unit and she was asked by a few of the other teachers if they knew anyone who would be able to take a look at their art supplies to determine if they were missing anything important.

She told him they were in this closet and then the moment he was through the door she was shutting the door behind him, lock turning with a decisive click.

Joe banged against the door, “Come on Nile, this isn’t funny.”

“Just a little while Joe, we’re doing this for your own good,” she called back.

Joe banged on the door a few more times, but gave up as he heard Nile’s footsteps fade away.

Joe had a feeling he might know what this was about, he and Nicky hadn’t exactly been subtle and the awkwardness between them had been so thick in the air it was almost tangible at the last meeting. Shoving them into a closet and making them work out their differences was the sort of plan that had Quynh’s name written all over it.

It wouldn’t work though, Nicky had made it fairly clear before that they didn’t have anything to talk about.

And that was fine really. The one night they’d had together and the morning and day after that had followed had been great and so much fun, up until the point where Joe had caught a case of the feelings. He couldn’t help it really, casual, emotionless sex wasn’t Joe’s thing and Nicky was, despite the initial prickly exterior he had shown in response to Joe, a really kind and amazing person. The way he had been with Joe last night, firm but also patient and so attentive to Joe’s needs, even stopping to check in to make sure he was ok and knew what he was getting into, he’d never had anyone handle him like that, it had been nice, let him let go a bit and let someone else take the lead and set the pace for a change.

There had been brief moments in the morning after and throughout the day where Joe had thought Nicky might be beginning to feel a little bit of what Joe was feeling, that all this might turn into something more than just a one night stand. He’d thought it when he saw the way Nicky looked at him dressed in his clothes that morning, when he had looked to Joe to make the decision about going to the farmers market together, and in the way Nicky had kissed him over the dishes, all soft and gentle, nothing like the ones they had shared the night before.

He’d been so sure, it was one of the reasons he’d gone and asked Nicky out at the end of it all. He’d been wrong though and he had to suffer through listening to Nicky trying to offer up excuses, trying to let Joe down as gently as he could because of course even when he was rejecting someone Nicky would be kind and thoughtful. Joe had fled after that, unable to face down his embarrassment at having misread the situation so completely.

After that he had made it his mission to avoid Nicky as much as he could, mostly in an effort to save himself some discomfort but also because he wasn’t entirely sure that he could stop himself from admitting his feelings to Nicky and saying something truly embarrassing. It didn’t help either that he hadn’t really gotten off since then, not even a proper wank. It left him feeling keyed up and out of sorts anytime they were in the same room. Like his skin was stretched thin, every nerve ending raw.

It worked too, he’d made excuses about being too busy with the gallery, ducked out of meetings as soon as he could, been intentionally late a time or two to pick up Nadia. Up to this point he had avoided being in close contact with Nicky for more than a few moments and other people had always been present.

It seems, however, that their friends were determined to make them talk about it.  
“So, I think that is their way of hinting that we need to talk,” Joe found himself saying when Nicky finally turned to face him. When he did Joe was once more forced to reckon with just how handsome Nicky was. Even as he was dressed now, clearly having just come from the bakery, his hair wild, curling a little bit just below his ears, he was still the most beautiful person Joe had ever seen.

But he didn’t let himself get too distracted by that, forging on instead. “I can’t really see what they think we have to discuss, but it seems we’ve both managed to make everything a bit awkward and strained lately and I guess from their perspective that must be a little annoying. In an effort to smooth things over, I’ll start. I’m sorry for asking you out when you clearly weren’t interested. I’d misinterpreted a few things and thought you might be interested in a relationship that went beyond the physical. I was wrong on that front and I’m sorry if me asking you out has made things at all awkward so I’m hoping we can possibly forget it ever happened and start fresh, maybe even as friends rather than enemies this time around?”

\--

Why is it that Joe seemed to be able to reduce Nicky to a floundering mess, unable to find the right words while also slipping just enough sarcasm into his tone that he made Nicky want to grab him by the scruff of his neck and shake some sense into him.

The near constant push and pull between annoyance and arousal around Joe was getting to be one of the more frustrating aspects of Nicky’s life.

It seems this time Nicky tipped firmly in the direction of annoyance, for the moment at least. “I sincerely doubt you’ll have an easy time forgetting that night.”

Joe wasn’t one to back down from a challenge like that and he sure as hell wasn’t the type to just let Nicky get away with saying shit like that. Nicky watched as Joe's eyes went cold and his posture stiffened. “I don’t see how I couldn't. It was a rather forgettable affair,” well, Joe certainly knew how to strike at a nerve. Nicky felt couldn’t be blamed for the words that passed his lips next, it was simply instinct, but in reality it would be one of the dumbest, and cruelest, things he had ever said. 

“Ah, yes that explains how you were almost begging for that entire Sunday, even well into the afternoon.” That was unnecessarily cruel and Nicky wished he could take it back the moment he had said it.

Joe didn’t respond, his lips just pressed into a thin line, arms coming down by his sides, hands curling into fists. So Nicky, idiot that he was, forged on.

“You know if you’d just stuck around for maybe another two minutes I would have given it to you too, would have bent you over that counter and had you all pretty and gagging for it, just like the night before.”

Nicky kept talking, even as he watched Joe coil up tighter and tighter, tension visible in his shoulders and jaw.

“Although keeping you quiet would have been tricky, you were so vocal the other night, it’s almost adorable, the noises you make. You really want to look me in the eyes and try to pretend I hadn’t ruined you for every other man.” Nicky stepped forward now, crowding into Joe’s personal space, forcing him back against the shelving unit he had been standing by. He doesn’t know why he said these thing, he knew better. They weren’t just mean, simply being mean to Joe might have been forgivable, they were reducing down everything Joe had given him, the trust and faith he’d placed in Nicky’s hands that night, and treating them like they were something to be belittled. 

Nicky half expected Joe to strike him, he would have deserved it too, when he he finally snapped. 

But no, instead of snapping back, or even reaching out and striking Nicky, Joe buried his hands in Nicky’s hair and pulled him forward into a biting kiss.

Well, this was likely not going how the others had thought it would, or perhaps it was.

Nicky only had a moment to savor the taste of Joe on his lips before the door was flung open and Joe pulled back away from the kiss, startled by the sudden movement.

Booker, Andy and Quynh stared back at them eyes wide as they took in the scene, Nicky and Joe pressed together, Joe’s hands still buried in Nicky’s hair.

Booker recovered first, smiling as he spoke. “Oh thank god you idiots finally talked. Andy and Quynh thought it might take all night but I had a feeling five minutes locked in a room together would work.”

Their faces must have given something away because his smile fell after a few beats of silence.

“You didn’t talk did you?” Andy asked, clearly more than a little annoyed with them.

Joe didn’t respond and Nicky found himself looking away and shuffling his feet in discomfort before answering. “We spoke a little.”

Which was apparently not the right answer.

“Fuck this,” Quynh stepped around her wife and shoved Nicky back before grabbing Joe by the hand a pulling him out of the closet. “Joe is coming with me, Andy, you and Booker need to talk some sense into Nicky because right now I’m more likely to punch him than talk to him.” 

And just like that she and Joe were disappearing down the hall and into an empty classroom.

“Well, this should be fun,” Booker muttered before he and Andy turned to head to the other empty classroom directly across from the one Joe and Quynh had disappeared into, Nicky trailing behind them, sure that he wasn’t about to enjoy the dressing down he was about to receive.

“So, you want to explain what’s going on,” Andy asked as soon as the door had closed behind them.

“Joe asked me out.”

“Oh Nicky, that’s great!”

“But I froze up and then made excuses for why we couldn’t.”

“That’s....less great,” Booker said with a wince.

“And then in the closet I may have made a rude comment or two that I shouldn’t have.”

Andy was shaking her head, hand pressed over her eyes while Booker looked heavenwards as though they might offer some guidance.

“And he kissed you for that?” Booker again.

Nicky just shrugged, it was sort of par for the course so far so it’s not like Booker should have been entirely surprised. “Wouldn’t be the first time one of us responded like that when the other one poked at them.” Except last time around it had been he who had snapped instead of Joe.

Andy looked as though she was about to say something but before she could the door burst open and Quynh stormed through. Nicky had never seen her look so furious and it was all the more terrifying to see that level of rage focused squarely in him.

“What the fuck did you do to him,” she seethed as she stood in front of Nicky, poking him sharply in the chest. “I can barely get two sentences out of him about you without him looking like he’s just going to crumple to the floor.”

“I didn’t.....we just.....I don’t know how....” Nicky tried to get something out, some sort of explanation but he just couldn’t seem to find the words in the wake of Quynh’s anger. And what could he even say, Joe had asked him out, he’d stumbled and been unable to seize that opportunity and now they couldn’t be in the same room together without devolving into awkwardness at best or at worst trying to rip each other’s throats out before just giving up and making out.

Quynh didn’t need to hear anything Nicky had to say and was perfectly content to just forge on and verbally eviscerate him to the best of her ability.

“You stupid idiot. Joe is half in love with you already and you can’t even fucking muster up the words to tell him you feel the same. Instead you just let him think that he was nothing more than a quick fuck.”

“Why would you assume I feel the same? And how can you be so sure he wants anything else from me.”

The look Quynh gave him was practically lethal. “He hasn’t stopped talking about you since the day you met. And you, you’ve spent the entire time you’ve known him either purposely antagonizing him or making big sad cow eyes at him when his back is turned. We all know you too well Nicolo, you don’t do casual anymore than Joe does and you never would have slept with him if you didn’t feel like there was something there.”

Nicky didn’t really know how to respond to that. She was right, in the recesses of his own mind he could admit that, had made his peace with that fact about two seconds after Joe had fled that Sunday, but he wasn’t entirely sure if that mattered at this point. He’d said things that were cruel, he’d made Joe feel like he wasn’t interested, he’d done everything he could to push the other man away and for some reason Joe came back, had tried to start over as friends -no matter how sarcastic the delivery of that offer had been he had tried - and then kissed Nicky again when it had all become too much. Meanwhile, Nicky couldn’t find the words he needed. He still couldn’t sort his head out enough to get a firm grip on what he felt or where this relationship would go beyond knowing that he simply wanted Joe.  
Thankfully, this time around he wouldn’t have to be the one to find the words, Quynh had said more than enough for him.

“Is that true?” A soft voice from the doorway to the classroom asked, startling all of them.  
Joe was standing at the threshold of the classroom, leaning against the doorframe, arms wrapped around himself as though he was trying to hold himself together. There was something almost fragile seeming in the way he stood that made Nicky want to gather him in his arms and sooth whatever hurt he had caused.

His attention was drawn back to Quynh again when she curled her fist in Nicky’s shirtfront and pulled him down to eye level.

“You’re going to fix this, and if you break his heart any more than you already have I will know and I will make you suffer for it,” and with that she was releasing him and grabbing Andy and Booker by the arms and steering them out the door. “I think we’ve made our point, let’s let the boys talk for a bit.”

Joe stepped out of the way, allowing their friends to pass, the door shutting softly behind them.

In the quiet that descended between them Nicky felt everything he wanted to say bubble up to the surface, mingling together and crowding his brain until he was struggling to discern one thought from another.

“I....” he tried, but didn’t get anywhere. He could feel the panic beginning to settle in now. He’d managed to fuck this up so terribly and he needed to fix this, Joe deserved that much at least. He closed his eyes, tried to take a few calming breaths but nothing seemed to help.  
He could feel his chest tightening, frustration mounting as he tried to push past whatever it was that seemed to be blocking him from just talking to Joe like a normal human being. Like he wasn’t terrified to think what it meant to let Joe into his life, a life that had just been him and Sofia for so long.

And maybe at the end of it all that is what it came down too. Maybe that is why he fought back against Joe every time, snapped and growled when all he wanted to do was hold Joe and curl into his warmth. He’d been hurt before, left behind before and he’d managed to pick up the pieces then. He wasn’t so sure he’d be able to manage that again if it was Joe who was doing the leaving.

He was shaken from his thought by a gentle hand pressing against his cheek and a brief kiss placed at the corner of his mouth. Joe’s words were little more than a low murmur when he spoke.

“I’m scared of all this too you know.” Nicky didn’t know how, but it seemed Joe had finally found the words that Nicky should be saying and was stepping up for both of them in order to get everything out in the open. “It’s been just Nadia and I for years and she’s lost so much that I never wanted to bring a boyfriend into the picture because I always worried that if they walked away it would just hurt her more.”

Nicky kept his eyes closed, turning his face into Joe’s hand and pressing a kiss against the palm as he listened to Joe continue to speak.

“I hadn’t thought much about dating, not seriously at least, until you. You were stunning, successful, a brilliant parent and just so endlessly kind to everyone. Sure, you seemed to hate me and I wanted to throttle you every time you stepped in that Saturday night to rescue me like I was some sort of helpless maiden, but that didn’t change the fact that I was starting to develop feelings for you that night even before we fell into bed together. And then the sex.....” the way Joe trailed off had Nicky opening his eyes, wanting to see the look on Joe’s face as he remembered that night. The vision in front of him didn’t disappoint.

Joe looked so soft and vulnerable in this moment, but in his eyes Nicky could see an undercurrent of heat, that same defiant streak that had been so enjoyable that night clear as day.

“I haven’t gotten off since that day you know, haven’t even touched myself.” That statement hit Nicky like a ton of bricks, one hand coming up to grab at Joe’s waist, that involuntary need to hold him close rearing up suddenly.

“It’s stupid, a comment you made in the heat of it all, but this whole time it didn’t feel right, not without you.” Nicky tried not to think too hard about all the things that single statement said about their relationship, he didn’t want this to veer off into the sexual side of things again, not before they settled the emotional business that they had been leaving unattended for far too long.

Joe seemed to sense this as well and once again steered them towards smoother waters. 

“I’m never not going to be terrified by the way you make me feel, and I’m probably never going to feel like I am enough to deserve you, but even if this does end up going down in flames I don’t want to spend the rest of my life thinking about what could have been, especially not if you might feel the same.”

Nicky knew then that it was now or never, he needed to speak, to make Joe understand if there was any hope for either of them.

“I’m not good with this sort of thing. It’s always been easier for me to show how I feel than talk about it. And not in that sort of ridiculous machismo way men seem to always hide behind and use as some sort of excuse for being emotionally stunted,” that got a snort of laughter from Joe so he counted it as a success. “It’s just that when I’m around you I can’t always get straight everything I want to say about how perfect you are,” that got a blush, good, seemed like he was getting the point across. “And I was scared. Scared what it would mean letting you in, scared about what we might become. The physical side of all this, the sex and the passion, was just so easy for us that I leaned into that, let it define what I thought we could be, what I thought you might want from all this. I was wrong, and when you made it clear I was wrong I ran away because I was terrified. I don’t want that to be the end of our story.” He pulled Joe in closer, arms wrapping around him and pressed a kiss against his temple. “Go out with me? This Saturday? Let me make up for how much of an idiot I’ve been.”

“Yes.”


	9. Chapter 9

They didn’t see each other for the rest of the week, which wasn’t exactly unexpected given how busy they both were, but was more than a little disappointing for Joe.

They did, however, talk nearly every night, including the Thursday night before their date.

Nile was babysitting Nadia for the night while Joe was doing a quick, last minute walk through at the gallery to make sure everything was ready for tomorrow’s showing. He hadn’t expected his phone to ring just as he was checking in the lighting for the last piece that had only just been set up yesterday, and he certainly hadn’t expected Nicky to be the one calling after they had talked on the phone for nearly an hour last night.

“I wasn’t expecting a call from you,” Joe said, keeping us voice low despite the fact that he was the only one in the entire gallery.

“I may or may not have realized suddenly that I owe you a massive apology.”

“What for?” I mean sure, he and Nicky had been huge dicks to each other for a while but that had been on both of their parts and in most instances Joe had given just as good as he got.

“I said some things, the other day, when we were locked in the closet.”

“Nicky, you don’t have to apologize for that, We already sorted it out and I practically goaded you into it.” Ok, yeah it had stung a little to hear Nicky say those things and he still second guessed himself as to if Nicky really thought that about him for a bit, but they had both been snappy with each other that day.

“No, Joe, you didn’t deserve that and I should have known better.”

“Nicky you don’t....” but Nicky cut him off before he could make another excuse for him.

“I was unnecessarily cruel Joe. I mocked you in a way that was not only unfair, but that completely undercuts the sort of dynamic that seems to be developing between us.” Joe took a quick mental pause to flag that they really did need to have an actual conversation about that at some point, preferably before they tumbled into bed again and Joe lost the ability to think coherently. They hadn’t dived that far into the questions of dynamics and submission so far, more dabbled in it and skirted around the edges of it, but if that was going to make an appearance in their relationship at any point they needed to talk about it as soon as they could.

“I treated it like some sort of power play, something I could lord over you and use to make you feel inferior and that wasn’t just wrong of me, it was irresponsible,” Nicky continued on.

“Nicky, it’s not that big of a deal.”

“Yes, it is. Joe, the way you were that night and the morning after.....you were....” another pause before Nicky seemed to correct himself. “You are beautiful and perfect and you deserve to know that, not be chastised and mocked for it.”

Joe could feel heat rising to his cheeks at Nicky’s words and this sort of warm haze settling in his mind. It was....it was really nice to hear Nicky say those things, to hear the contrition in his voice and how he was trying to make things right. “You planning to make it up to me?” even now, in the midst of what was clearly a serious conversation Joe couldn’t help but tease Nicky a bit. And if it helped alleviate some of the tension that had settled in and made it clear to Nicky that Joe forgave him, well that was good too.

“Very much so.”

“Hmmm, care to leave me with a few hints as to how?”

“And ruin the surprise, never.”

“Mean.”

“Practical, can’t have you building it up in your head too much and then being disappointed.”

“Just one clue?”

He heard Nicky let out a short huff of breath that sounded a bit like laughter. “You’re irresistible sometimes you know that right?”

“Hmmmm, I’m starting to figure that out. But come on just one teeny tiny clue, so I can prepare myself for it,” yeah, he had definitely intended to leave the innuendo behind that statement in there for Nicky.

“Let’s just say I plan on spending as much time as possible showing you exactly the sort of devotion you deserve and I intend to be extremely thorough.”

Joe’s fairly sure there was an audible hitch in his breath that gave away how much those words affected him. 

“Are you home?”

“The gallery,” Joe responded, taking just a second to get his breathing under control and adjusting himself a bit. 

“By yourself?” Based in Nicky’s tone of voice this conversation was now heading away from the sexy side of things. 

“I mean that’s sort of always the case with the last run through the night before, but I’m going to be heading home soon,” Joe started walking again now, planning to shut off all the lights and make his way back to his office to grab his bag and leave. 

“As in walking home? Joe it’s pitch black outside.”

“It’s only a few stops on the train and like a block, I’ll be fine.” Ok that was a bit of a white lie, but he’d made the trip more times than he could count and outside of one attempted mugging he hadn’t had any trouble and even if he did he was more than capable of defending himself if need be.

“I’m coming to pick you up, what is the address?”

“Nicky, that’s really not necessary.”

“I’d rather you not walk home alone at night Joe.”

Joe kicked off the last of the lights before stepping into his office and scooping up his messenger bag, holding his phone in place against his ear with his shoulder as he rummaged through the bag for his keys. “Nicky, did I ever tell you about that time my sister took me to one of the MMA gyms in the city when I was nineteen?” He already knew the answer to that question, but he wasn’t about to pass up on a chance to tease Nicky a bit when it presented itself. 

Silence was all that greeted him over the line so he barreled forward. “Yeah, turns out I was actually really good at it and have been training there for fun since ever since.” He didn’t compete, never really had the desire to, but he could defend himself if needed and it was a great workout that kept him in fantastic shape. 

More silence and for a brief second he was momentarily worried he had overstepped some boundary or said something Nicky didn’t like. 

“Nicky, you ok?” Joe hit the last light in his office and headed for the door. 

“Is it strange that I find that fact about you very, very attractive,” Nicky finally said just as Joe stepped out into the cold evening air, locking the door behind him. 

Joe responded with a laugh. “Is it the fact that I could pin you down and have my wicked way with you that’s got you all hot and bothered or is it more the fact that I let you pin me down?”

“Mostly the latter but maybe a tiny bit of the former,” Nicky still sounded composed, but Joe could tell he’d gotten to him a little bit by the sort of breathy quality to his voice. “I still don’t like you walking home alone at night.”

“Noted, I’ll text you when I get home.”

“I’ll hold you to it.”

“Still planning to meet at 6:00.”

“We want to just head out from Andy and Quynh’s after dropping the girls off?”

“Works for me.”

“Good, I’ll see you then. Have a good night Joe.”

“You too Nicky,” Joe ended the call and then jogged down the front steps of the gallery, wide smile on his face as he took them two at a time. 

Well, one thing is for sure, making it through the next 48 hours until their date was going to be a bit of a trial but he couldn’t wait to see what Nicky had in store for him. 

—

Nicky was nervous. 

And not just nervous, butterflies in your stomach, first date jitters sort of nervous. 

No, he was nervous in more of the felt like he was going to throw up, second guessing everything he had planned and then changing his clothes no less than seven times sort of way. 

The only thing that had stopped him from trying to change clothing again was the fact that they had to leave if he wanted to get Sophia over to Andy and Quynh’s on time. 

So he settled with nice dark jeans, a gray sweater and that navy jacket he’d noticed Joe seemed to like on him the other weekend. 

He continued to second guess that choice the entire walk to drop Sophia off, right up to the moment when he saw Joe and Nadia walking towards them as the reached Andy and Quynh’s. 

Nadia was bundled up against the cold, a thick knitted hat with a giant pom-pom atop it pulled over her hair. She was walking beside Joe, holding his hand and swinging from it from time to time, chattering away and jumping up and down excitedly the moment she spotted Nicky and Sophia. 

Joe, meanwhile, looked stunning as ever, dressed in a pair of black jeans and wearing a well cut charcoal pea coat that fit him perfectly. He had a thick scarf thrown haphazardly around his throat and had a burgundy beanie pulled on, a few stray curls escaping around the edges. 

And when Joe looked up and smiled Nicky felt his chest constrict in a way he had never experienced before. There was something there in that smile, a sort of soft fondness that warmed him to his core and that made Joe look even more beautiful. 

They reached the walkway up to the house at nearly the same time, Sophia immediately grabbing Nadia’s hand and pulling her towards the front door of the house which had already been flung open by Talia who was bouncing up and down in excitement, the girls shrieking as they collided into a pile of limbs as they hugged each other, Andy laughing at their antics while trying to guide Sophia and Nadia to remove their winter jackets and hang them up by the door. 

Nicky missed all of this though, too focused on Joe, who had turned to watch the girls with a smile on his face, waving to Nadia and calling out his thanks to Andy for everything. Nicky thinks he might have done the same, probably told Sophia he loved her and would be there in the morning, but the entire thing was a bit of a haze for him as he lost himself in thinking about Joe and how good he looked bundled up against the cold. 

Joe turned back to look at Nicky as the door closed behind Andy and the girls, his smile turning a little shy.

“Hi,” he said, stepping in a bit closer, slipping one of his hands into Nicky’s and threading their fingers together. 

“Hi,” Nicky responded and before he could second guess himself and pull back he leaned in to kiss Joe. “I missed you,” he added after they broke the kiss. 

That earned him a blinding smile. “I missed you too.” Joe pulled back, moving to stand next to Nicky, threading his arm through Nicky’s. “So, do I get a hint as to where we are going.”

“And ruin the surprise, certainly not,” Nicky responded as he turned to walk down the sidewalk arm in arm with Joe. 

Right here, right now with Joe at his side, Nicky couldn’t help but begin to get excited about what their future might hold and how right this all felt.


	10. Chapter 10

Joe had lived in the city for nearly fifteen years at this point. He had been sure he had explored every corner of the city and had found every possible delight the city had to offer and yet somehow Nicky had still managed to surprise him. 

In the park that was about a twenty minutes walk from Andy and Quynh’s there had been a bunch of small food stalls set up and the smells wafting from each of them were delicious. “A winter market,” Joe found himself saying as he stared at the decorated stalls and the lights strung up between them. “Oh Nicky it’s wonderful!” It was also such a pleasant surprise. On the rare occasions Joe had bothered to go out on dates it had been meeting at a bar or grabbing dinner, never anything creative like this for a first date and it was nice to think Nicky had taken the time to think through their date and come up with something special. 

“I’d thought it might be nice to spend a little time outside, also Booker mentioned that a few of the vendors are halal so I though it might make things a bit easier.”

Fuck, Nicky could be so sweet when he wanted to be. 

Joe grabbed hold of Nicky’s jacket and tugged him in for a kiss. “That’s so sweet,” he added when he broke the kiss. 

Nicky’s only response was a wide, almost goofy smile that Joe had never seen before. It was sort of adorable. 

“Well, should we explore?”

—  
They spent the better part of an hour perusing the food stands, talking with the different vendors, trying different sampling’s each one had to offer. 

Nicky couldn’t help but marvel at how effortlessly charming Joe could be. 

He always had a smile and a kind for everyone, managed to sweet talk a few of the little old ladies at the booths while also effortlessly switching over to arguing with their husbands about the last football match. He flowed between different languages as needed, Nicky able to follow most of the conversations save for the one with the adorable Iranian couple selling the most delicious nogha. 

“You’re amazing, you know that, right?” He found himself asking as the wandered through the stalls arm in arm, heading towards a little fountain that had a few park benches nearby. 

“I’ve been told that a time or two,” Joe offered in response, pulling Nicky over to a bench and sitting down. “This has been lovely by the way, and I certainly hadn’t expected it.”

Nicky found himself smiling at that, unable to control the warmth settling in his chest at the knowledge that he had made Joe happy. It felt good, right even, to be doing these sorts of things for Joe, minor though they may be in the grand scheme of things. “I’m glad, I was hoping to find something different for our first official date.”

“We did do everything a bit out of order didn’t we?” Joe playfully nudged Nicky’s shoulder with his before taking Nicky’s hand in his own, pulling it up to place a soft kiss against the back of it. 

Nicky hoped his blush wasn’t too visible in the low light of the surrounding streetlights. “I still feel as though I’ll never be able to fully apologize for all the things I said to you, that I’ll never be able to do enough to deserve this,” he used his free had to gesture between the two of them. 

Joe’s hand settled on Nicky’s cheek, forcing him to hold his gaze. “I’ve said enough things in anger myself to know when the words are meant and when they aren’t.”

“Joe, that still doesn’t...” Nicky attempted to say but Joe cut him off. 

“I didn’t forgive you because the things you said were right, or ok, or justified in any way Nicky. I’m forgiving you because I know you didn’t mean them and more importantly I’m forgiving you because holding it against you, letting them eat at me and poison my thoughts isn’t healthy. My forgiveness isn’t for you Nicky, it’s for me.”

It would never cease to amaze Nicky that Joe always seemed able to find the words Nicky needed to hear. 

Nicky leaned forward to kiss Joe, one hand going behind Joe’s neck, fingers brushing against the beanie that was denying him access to those glorious curls, pulling their still clasped hands up to press them to his heart as he pressed forward to deepen the kiss, swallowing the whine Joe gave when he nipped at his lower lip. Nicky was starting to develop a love hate relationship with that beanie. It looked great on Joe, but it was also depriving him of the opportunity to get his hands in Joe’s hair. 

They continued on for a few moments, ignoring the world around them and losing themselves in the moment and each other. It was only when a few notes of music poured out from the stand nearest to them that Joe pulled back, immediately rising to his feet and pulling Nicky with him. “I love this song. Dance with me?”

“I’m not exactly the best dancer.”

“It’s not difficult, I’ll lead.”

Nicky was beginning to realize that he would follow Joe anywhere. 

—

Nicky was a quick learner. Joe put him through a few basic ballroom steps and before he knew it they settled into a rhythm. It wasn’t anything to fancy, but it was nice.

“Where in the world did you learn how to Salsa?” Nicky asked after a few minutes. 

“Rina, my sister and Nadia’s mom, made the whole family take ballroom classes before her and Andrew’s wedding. My parents were adorably inept, and Andrew’s mom was almost hilariously bad, but Andrew, Rina and I took to it like fish to water,” he could still remember the classes, Rina and Andrew lost in their own little world while they stared lovingly into each other’s eyes. Joe had been so jealous of them back then but also so happy for his sister and the love she’d found. 

“It sounds like you and your sister were close,” Nicky said as they slowed down a bit and just swayed with the music. 

“She was my hero. I still miss her every day.”

Nicky was quiet for a few minutes and Joe thought the conversation would just shift to something new when Nicky finally spoke again. “She’d be proud of you I think, given what little you’ve said about her I think she’d be really impressed with everything you’ve done.”

The fact that this was the same man that had vowed to hate Joe eternally over Baklava was astounding. Not that Joe was complaining, but the fact that they had gone from that to where they were now in less than a month was amazing and Joe didn’t have any words to convey how grateful he was that they’d gotten to where they are now.

So instead of speaking he just stopped there dancing - which by now was nothing more than slight swaying back and forth - took Nicky’s face in his hands and did the only thing he really wanted to in that moment, he kissed the man he loved. 

Holy Fuck wait a minute...loved? Joe’s brain short circuited a bit at that thought even as their tender kiss continued regardless of the sudden internal panic Joe was having. 

But there was no denying, he’d never fallen this hard or this fast for someone before. Even when they were fighting he’d felt like there had been some sort of connection there, something more that he’d brushed off as animosity and later labeled sexual tension. 

Now though, after that morning at the farmers market and the bakery, the PTA meeting where their friends had finally forced them to pull their heads from their asses, the phone calls the last few days and now, here underneath the street lights, sounds of the city all around them, he was starting to realize there was something more there, something special between the two of them. 

When Nicky pulled away he was smiling. He reached up to take both of Joe’s hands, moving them so he could hold both of Joe’s wrists in one hand while his free hand came up again to cup Joe’s face, thumb brushing against the corner of his mouth. 

“Why don’t we head home sound good?” Nicky asked, voice rough and husky, giving Joe’s wrists a gentle squeeze as he spoke. 

Yep, Joe was well and truly falling in love with this man.


	11. Chapter 11

Joe ended up getting them a cab back to his condo. 

His place wasn’t far, and they certainly could have walked, but they probably would have ended up fucking in an alley somewhere rather than making it home. 

A cab was better, forced them to keep their hands to themselves or risk being charged with public indecency. 

That doesn’t mean they didn’t immediately jump each other the moment they were through Joe’s front door. 

This time around it was Nicky pressed up against Joe’s door with Joe in front, crowding into Nicky’s space for a searing kiss the moment he had closed the door and thrown his keys in the general direction of the bowl he kept on the side table in his front entry way. 

He didn’t even give Nicky a chance to take his coat off and if he was being honest he didn’t really want to. He’d been so good that entire cab ride and had kept his hands to himself as they rushed through his building’s front lobby and up the elevator to his floor so he was not about to waste another second with something as trivial as getting out of their coats before getting his hands on Nicky. 

Nicky at least had the forethought to remove his gloves when Joe had been struggling to get his key in the door out of sheer desire and impatience, although Joe appreciated the fact that Nicky did so a lot less when a pair of cold hands slipped under his jacket and sweater and settled on the bare skin of his waist. 

The shock of the chill from Nicky’s hands had Joe flinching back from the kiss. 

Nicky gave Joe an apologetic smile. “Sorry, I didn’t really think about how cold my hands would be.”

Joe suddenly had a terrific, and also possibly terrible, idea. 

“It’s fine,” he kept his voice light, for all appearances innocent as he stripped out of his own gloves and unceremoniously shoved his hands up under Nicky’s jacket and shirt, pressing against the bare skin of his stomach. 

“Fuck, you brat,” Nicky hissed out as he recoiled back.

“Turnabout is fair play,” Joe laughed as he pulled away from Nicky, dancing just out of reach as he grabbed for him. 

Nicky was laughing now too, half chasing Joe down the hall towards the bedroom, neither one of them even bothering to remove their coats or anything other than the shoes that had been hastily toed off when they first got in. 

Nicky finally caught up to Joe when they reached the bedroom, tackling Joe down onto the bed. 

“Got you,” Nicky planted himself on top of Joe, his weight seated across Joe’s hips keeping him pinned. 

“So you have,” Joe smiled up at Nicky, bucking his hips up because he wouldn’t be him if he wasn’t going to be a little cheeky about the whole situation. “Now what do you intend to do with me?”

—

Wasn’t that a loaded question. Nicky could think of nearly a dozen different things he wanted to do to Joe in this instant, each one of them dirtier than the last. But the thing that got him the most, the thing that made him melt a little inside was that each and every one of those fantasies ended with him waking up next to Joe come morning. 

And it was that gentle and soft thought that reminded him that they really did need to be responsible adults about everything in their relationship, because if they weren’t this was sure to go down in flames. 

Nicky climbed off of Joe, ignoring the soft whine of disappointment from the gorgeous man, and sat down next to him. “We need to talk for a minute, about what’s going to happen between us in bed before we get too deep into it.”

Joe, to his credit, sat up next too Nicky and schooled his expression into something resembling seriousness. Although, he did rest his palm high on Nicky’s thigh, very, very close to Nicky’s dick, but given that Joe prided himself on being a little shit in all circumstances that wasn’t necessarily surprising to Nicky. 

“We should have talked about this before anything happened, but we can’t exactly start again so I guess we’ll talk about it now,” Nicky started to say. 

“Hey, you were the one who put my dick in your mouth first.” The look Nicky gave Joe shut him up immediately. 

“Are you clean?”

Joe nodded. “I got tested a few weeks before we met and there was no one but you since then. I think I have the test results somewhere around here if you want to see them,” Joe moved to stand, no doubt to hunt for the paper that had his results, but Nicky pulled him up short, tugging him back to the bed. 

“It’s ok, I don’t need to see them, I trust you. Also same on my end, but I do think we should go get tested together soon, just so we can have that piece of mind together.”

Joe nods again, allowing Nicky to simply continue on. 

“This part is what is really important, if we are going to do this, if we are going to mess around with things like dynamics and dominance and submission I need you to be completely honest about what you like and what you don’t, I need to know what lines not to cross and you need to understand the same about me and that I will always stop if it’s too much for either of us. I also need to know how much experience you have with this sort of thing.”

The way Joe squirmed a little at his last statement let Nicky know that Joe was probably working with less experience than Nicky was and the easy way he’d slipped into submission last time might have been a bit of a combination between a little bit of luck and some of Joe’s own instincts. 

Of course Joe had to go and surprise Nicky by proving that assumption wrong. 

“I’ve never been involved in something formal if that is what you’re asking, but I’ve been around the block enough times to know what I do and don’t like and also how I want to be handled. I also don’t want our relationship to be boiled down to just a dynamic,” Joe took Nicky’s hands in his own and pulled them into his lap, twining their fingers together and holding fast. “I want to wake up cuddled next to you just as much if not more than I want you to fuck me senseless. I want to be there when you need someone because things have gotten too heavy or just because it’s sometimes nice to let someone else take care of you for a bit. I don’t want who we are in the bedroom to define us and I also don’t want this dynamic to be all that we are in the bedroom, understood?”

“Joe...” Nicky started, but Joe waved him off, not letting his little proclamation derail them too much and returning to the task at hand. 

“But, if we’re getting back to the question at hand, sometimes life gets to be a lot for me and it’s nice to have someone I can trust take me out of my own head for a bit, someone who can be a little rough with me, who can tie me down, drag me to the edge only to pull me back over and over again, and who at the end of it all will hold me and tell me how good I was. I don’t like blood and anything involving bodily fluids is completely off the table and also don’t go trying to humiliate me or anything. I’m all for pet names and if I’m being a brat feel free to tell me I am but I’d prefer any of the usual derogatory names people seem to always lean into not make their way into our relationship in any form.”

Well, that answered Nicky’s questions, and gave him far more information about just how deep Joe’s affections ran which was something he hadn’t been prepared for. 

Nicky was head over heels in love with Joe, had been ever since he’d been a stupid idiot who ran Joe out of his kitchen with his callous comments. He’d stupidly assumed Joe was not interested so he’d put up walls and hurt Joe before he could hurt him. He could now see that was the single dumbest thing he’d ever done. Joe had been vastly more open about his affections than Nicky had thus far and it was about damn time Nicky remedied that. 

“I want those things too you know. I may not be as good at vocalizing how I feel, or expressing myself as eloquently as you always seem to manage, but always know I want those things for our relationship as well and that this isn’t just something physical for me. I want to wake up tangled together on the couch because we were too exhausted after work to make it to the bedroom. I want to spend the day baking with you in the kitchen while Marina or Nile are watching the girls in my living room or in the front of the store and I definitely want to watch your face scrunch up I’m distaste every time I force you to try a recipe that veers away from tradition.”

“I still maintain hazelnuts and pomegranate were a terrible choice for baklava.”

“Andy’s tastebuds clearly disagreed with you if the sounds she was making were any indication.” Nicky pulled Joe’s hands up to press a brief kiss against his knuckles. “But more than anything, I want you to know that no matter what happens from here on out, you and Nadia will always have a place with Sophia and I. You’re stuck with us, even if you and I end up as just friends in the long term.”

If Joe’s eyes were a little watery at the end of Nicky’s little speech he refrained from commenting on it. 

“And you don’t have to worry about bodily fluids or me calling you anything less than perfect, all of those are no go’s for me as well. The only thing I need at the end of it all is to know that you feel safe, cared for, and sated. If we can get to that point every time than I can promise you it will always be good for both of us.”

That little statement also helped to tip things back towards the sexy side of things which had very much been Nicky’s intention, although he had not been prepared for Joe to go and short circuit his brain with the first few sentences out of his mouth. 

“You remember me mentioning that I hadn’t come since our last time together?” All Nicky could do there was nod mutely. “Well, that’s still the case. Would you like me to finally explain why that is the case?” Nicky couldn’t even form words now, just nodded and waited for Joe to say something that was probably going to be even more absurdly sexy if the sly look on his face was anything to go by. 

“That may or may not have had something to do with you telling me I didn’t get to come until I was on your cock.”

And just like that Nicky lost all higher functioning brain power. “Take your clothes off, all of them, now.” Joe moved to remove his hat first, but Nicky found himself talking again, speaking without even really thinking through. “Not the hat, that hat has deprived me of your glorious curls the entire night, I get to remove that hat myself and after I’ve fucked you completely incoherent I’m going to burn it so it never stands in my way again.”

Well, that was a bit more aggressive than Nicky intended, luckily it didn’t seem Joe minded at all it the way he started laughing uncontrollably was anything to go by. 

This was going to be a long night it seemed.


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter was getting long so I broke the sexy times up into two. This one is short but I promise a longer one soon.

Hysterical laughter as a precursor to sex probably wasn’t the most common thing, but Joe had to admit it was very on brand for the way he and Nicky’s relationship had been going. 

Also I mean could anyone really blame him for reacting the way he had. Nicky’s tone of voice seemed so deadly serious about Joe’s hat in that moment while his facial expression showed how utterly shocked he was that he had actually just said that aloud. 

It took Joe a few moments to recover but when he did rather that undressing he instead climbed into Nick’s lap, settling in so he was straddling the other man, one hand on his jaw to force him to make eye contact, the other sinking into his hair, gently scratching at his scalp in a way that pulled an obscene groan out of the other man. “So, not a fan of the hat huh.”

“It’s not so much that I dislike it or that it doesn’t look good on you, it’s more the inability to get my hands in your hair that is driving me to distraction.” Nicky’s eyes fluttered closed as he leaned into Joe’s hand in his hair like some sort of oversized house cat seeking out more pets and attention. 

“Hmm,” Joe hummed, not entirely sure of what his next move would be. For a moment there they’d been headed towards what would have very likely been hot, rough, passionate sex that probably would have left him bruised and sore the next day in the best way possible. But after the laughter the feeling had now settled into something a little softer and slower, something intimate and gentle but no less wonderful than what would have happened if Nicky’s absurd comment had landed a little different. 

It felt so different from the last time they were in bed together and because of that Joe was inclined to see where this might go and what this sort of softness between them might yield in the bedroom. 

He tugged his coat and sweater off first, almost choking himself with his own scarf in his bid to stay perched on Nicky’s lap and not to jostle the hat out of place. Next he went for Nicky’s clothing, pulling his jacket off and tossing it back over his shoulder before tugging his shirt off so they were both bare from the waist up, before settling his hands on Nicky’s shoulders and leaning back so he could really appreciate the delicious expanse of Nicky’s bare chest. 

While they weren’t terribly dissimilar in build, it was easy to appreciate the wirey nature of Nicky’s frame compared to his own more solid build. Plus the broadness of Nicky’s shoulders just pushed all the right buttons for Joe. 

“See something you like?” Nicky tried to convey confidence and swagger in his words, but Joe saw right through that thanks to the bright blush on Nicky’s cheeks. 

Never let it be said Joe was incapable of milking a situation for all that it was worth, and he was about to do just that with this soft and shy version of Nicky that seemed to have decided to show up. 

“I think it’s fairly obvious I do,” he pressed down a bit with his hips, both of their arousal obvious, and wound his hands into Nicky’s hair for a sweet and slow kiss. 

Joe probably should have thought a bit more about his next words, should have maybe tempered them a bit given that it was still so early in their relationship, but he also wouldn’t be himself if he didn’t speak from his heart so he really could not control the words that fell from his lips when they parted. “This sweet tentative thing that has grown between us is like nothing else I’ve ever experienced. It’s like having this presence in my life that guides me through the dark and keeps me warm even on the coldest of days. Despite our rocky start, there is a kindness in you that the world is not worthy of and while I may not yet know what we will become, I can’t help but feel as though my entire universe has shifted on its axis as you became another focal point of my life. I’ve been so accustomed to it being just Nadia and I, that I always thought I would never be able to find that person who felt like the missing piece of my soul. You are all and more than I could have ever hoped to find.”

Joe tried not to panic when he felt Nicky go stiff beneath him. 

—

Nicky certainly hadn’t been prepared for that declaration and he couldn’t fight back the instinct to withdraw from the affection he saw plain as day on Joe’s face so he stiffened up before he could even really process what had been said. 

That was entirely unfair to Joe and he realized exactly what he had just done when he saw hurt flash across Joe’s features. He immediately tried to relax his frame, hand coming up behind Joe’s neck, smiling in a way that he hoped was reassuring. “My incurable romantic.” The smile that returned to Joe’s face was so wide that the corners of his eyes crinkled up in the way Nicky loved. He wasn’t sure which of them made the first move but suddenly they were kissing again. 

There was more heat in this kiss, more intent behind the way Nicky nipped and Joe’s lower lip and the way Joe’s arms tightened around Nicky.

Nicky pulled away, but only so he could get at that soft spot on Joe’s neck, just at the edge of his beard on the left side that he knew would have turn the other man into a writhing mess. The noise Joe made when he did didn’t disappoint. 

He started to curve his arms around Joe, ready to twist around to press the other man into the bed, but his movements were halted by the way Joe’s grip on him tightened. “Joe?” Nicky pulled back so he could look up at Joe’s face, to see if something was wrong again. 

What he saw almost shattered him. Joe was staring down at him with wide dark eyes, lower lip tugged between his teeth, blush visible even on his dark skin and in the dim light of the bedroom. 

“What is it sweetheart, tell me what you want?”

“I...” Joe’s voice had this gorgeous breathy quality to it. “I don’t...I’m not sure...I...” there was something awe inspiring about the fact that Nicky was able to make Joe speechless, that he could steal the words from someone so eloquent. 

“It’s ok babe, take your time with getting it out, I can be patient.”

Joe let out a high whining sound in response to Nicky’s words. “Shit, Nicky, using pet names like that isn’t gonna make it any easier for me to gather my thoughts.”

“Sorry,” Nicky’s entirely certain Joe could practically hear the shit eating grin that he hid against Joe’s neck because it would give away just how not sorry he was. 

Joe took a deep breath and finally spoke after a minute. “I don’t want it to be like last time, that was fun and all, but I want to be able to see you this time, to touch you, please?”

Sweet, gorgeous Joe, of course Nicky would be more than willing to grant that request. “Of course we can darling, I just need us to move so we can get our pants off.”

“I might have an idea related to that actually.”

—

Joe gently disentangled himself from Nicky and stood up. “Just stay there for two seconds, and hands to yourself.”

“Look who’s getting bossy now,” Nicky commented back, but nonetheless he obeyed Joe’s request. 

For a minute Joe considers going for coy and teasing as he strips, but if he’s being honest they’re both way to keyed up for it at this point so instead he just pulls of his pants and boxer briefs in one go, kicking them to the side for good measure. “See something you like,” he echoed Nicky’s words from earlier as he stepped back into Nicky’s space, taking Nicky’s hands and tugging them forward to convey he wanted Nicky to stand up too. 

Nicky complied, parroting Joe’s words back at him as he stood, “I think it’s fairly obvious I do.”

Joe kept his hold on Nicky’s handed as he took a few careful steps backwards until he felt the wall against his back. He then hitched one leg up around Nicky’s hip, calf and foot pressing against the back of Nicky’s still clothed thigh to pull him in closer until they were pressed against each other. 

“I was thinking it might be fun to try a little bit of a change of scenery from the bed.”

Based on the slow smile that crossed Nicky’s face he was very much up for what Joe had in mind.


End file.
